Columfeia Winibtuitp ' 
Conttiijutfons to CbtttatJon 



^tnt'^tts College S>niti 



«J^5li-ilJl^>'l i v■■^■ 






mm 






:% 



m 










Class 



^ n^g 



BookJ; 



.10 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A Study of Organization and Method 

of the Course of Study in Agriculture 

in Secondary Schools 

By 
Theodore Hildreth Eaton, Ph.D. 



TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION, No. 86 



Published by 

Weatiitxi College, Columbia Winibttiitp 

NEW YORK CITY 

1917 



Copyright, 1917, by Theodore Hildreth Eaton 



m 1 1 1918 



'GI,A4 95>r):M 



/Vf I 



5 ^33 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Purpose I 

Method of Gathering Data 3 

Classification 4 

Selection of Schools 5 

Surroundings 5 

Description of Schools 6 

Aims 42 

Equipment 44 

Teachers 48 

Salaries 52 

Enrolment 54 

Age of Pupils . 55 

Entrance Requirements 56 

Units of Agriculture Offered in High Schools 57 

Course of Study — Academic Subjects 59 

Agricultural Subjects 69 

Arrangement of Time 81 

Method 83 

Extension Work 120 

Correlation 121 

Adjustments 123 

Discussion of General Applications 126 

Appendix: 

Extent of the Movement to Teach Agriculture in Secon- 
dary Schools 136 

Exhibits of Lessons 173 



ORGANIZATION AND METHOD IN AGRICULTURE 
IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

PURPOSE 

The following study was undertaken with a view to learning 
something of the character of organization and method in the teach- 
ing of agriculture in secondary schools. By organization is meant 
the coordination of means to the attainment of the end professed. 
Included within this meaning is method, as referring more spe- 
cifically to actual procedure in the inter-activity of teacher and pupil 
in the classroom, laboratory, shop, and outdoors. 

Under these two heads particular attention has been given to the 
study of the curriculum as a revealing factor in the matter of organi- 
zation and to the activity of the teacher as an instructive factor in 
the revelation of method. But more or less controlling modifiers of 
organization, such as qualification of pupils and of teachers, ade- 
quacy of equipment, location of school, type of school, and aid from 
the state, have not been ignored. Out of this coordination of means 
the attempt is made to evolve those factors which have dominated 
most conspicuously the organization and method used in the schools 
studied. 

The point of view is taken at the start that agriculture is to be 
regarded as a 'mode of life', rather than as a mere activity of pro- 
duction ; that agricultural education has to do with the preparation 
of youth for life in the country rather than merely with the 'getting 
things done on farms'. Hence a consideration only of means which 
have to do with successful production per unit of land or of labor is 
not sufficient. In a study of the curriculum, heed has been given to 
t he provision of subjects in the schools for so-called agricultural stu- 
dents, other than those which deal with the profitable production of 
plants or animals. Agriculture in the schools should be a curriculum 
rather than a course. 

Nevertheless, it is not uniformly so regarded. By the very nature 
of things emphasis is thrown in this study upon features that have 
the productive aspect. In the first place, the limitation of time 
necessitated a concentration upon aspects recognized distinctly as 



2 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

'agricultural'; in the second place, the content of the so-called agri- 
cultural subjects is marked by its insistence upon the economic 
phases of country living, and this content, which makes up the great 
mass of the published work of the Department of Agriculture at 
Washington, of experiment station 'literature', of agricultural col- 
lege bulletins, and of text and reference books, tends to appropriate 
to itself the designation 'agricultural' ; in the third place, teachers 
of agriculture are for the most part men educated in the scientific 
aspects of production from farms to such an extent that, for instance, 
the study of English, or civics, under the heading of Agricultural 
Education, would seem to them a misfit; and finally, the stress laid 
upon the 'vocational' aspect by laws and officers regulating the 
distribution of state aid, has tended distinctly to the narrowing of 
the conception of agricultural education. Hence, if the dominant 
note of the study is struck in the consideration of the technical 
courses, that dominance is not far from representative of the atti- 
tude of those who control in secondary agricultural education. Inas- 
much as the economic is the fundamental characteristic of the far- 
mer's life, since his vocation dominates and modifies his life activity 
through the twelve months and the twenty-four hours, as with few 
other men, the distortion is less one of truth than of completeness. 
Inasmuch as in these schools are met most of the important prob- 
lems that are likely to meet the educator who is faced with the 
construction or reconstruction of the working plans for agriculture 
in the secondary schools, the study will have served a useful end if it 
enables the superintendent, principal, school board or teachers to 
find an answer to some of those problems. Out of the experience of 
the schools herein studied arise more or less definite adjustments of 
means to meet particular situations, more or less definite evasions of 
particular problems. In the final chapter a brief discussion of prin- 
ciples involved in making proper adjustment of various factors is at- 
tempted. As these in varied aspects appear in the organization and 
method of the schools studied, it is hoped they may prove of con- 
structive value. 



METHOD OF GATHERING DATA 

The data used in the study were gathered by personal visits to 
fifty schools in sixteen states during the fall and winter of the year 
1915-1916. As often as railroad schedules permitted, a whole day 
was given to each school. In very few instances was the visitor 
unable to arrive at the school before or near the opening of the day's 
session. In no case was the time spent at the school less than half a 
day, and in two cases the time so spent amounted to two days. Only 
once were two schools visited in a single day, and then the visitor 
was in attendance upon all 'agricultural' classes in either school. 
In two cases schools were not in session upon the arrival of the 
visitor, and in two the school day was given over wholly to examina- 
tion. In the first instance the agricultural instructor, in the second 
the principal, gave his time to explanation of the work of the school 
in agriculture and to an exhibition of the school plant and of the out- 
side work accomplished by students. In all cases visits were re- 
ceived in kindly fashion. In very few cases was there any apparent 
aversion to answering questions. With forty-five of the schools 
subsequent correspondence has been used for verification and am- 
plification of data. All schools having catalogues or other printed 
matter concerning the work have furnished such freely, and further 
information has been gathered by correspondence with state de- 
partments of education and university and agricultural college de- 
partments of education. Personal conferences with Dr. Book, of 
Indiana, Professor A. V. Storm, of the University of Minnesota; 
Dr. A. D. Dean, Mr. L. S. Hawkins, and Mr. A. K. Getman, of 
the University of the State of New York ; Dr. R. W. Stimson, of the 
Massachusetts Bureau of Education; and Mr. H. G. Whitcher, of 
the State Department of Education in New Hampshire, have 
proved of help. Particular acknowledgment is due the courtesy of 
these gentlemen in furnishing data, and to Prof. K. L. Hatch, of 
the University of Wisconsin; Mr. L. H. Dennis, of Pennsylvania; 
Prof. F. B. Jenks, of the University of Vermont, and President 
Andrew M. Soule, of the Georgia College of Agriculture, for material 
of value. 



CLASSIFICATION 

The schools visited have been somewhat arbitrarily divided into 
three groups according to type. The larger group, A, consists of 
schools which are in name and in fact, or in fact only, public high 
schools. All but one have entrance requirements calling for the 
completion of Grades VII, VIII, or IX, or an equivalent prepara- 
tion; all have a four-year course of study, all maintain a length of 
school year between thirty-six and forty weeks and call for from 
fourteen and one-half to sixteen units of satisfactorily completed 
work for graduation. With them, for the sake of convenience, is 
included the one so-called 'junior' high school visited. In matters 
of curriculum, particularly in the 'academic subjects', there is 
much similarity to the common high school. The sub-classes in this 
grouping are: 

A-i City High Schools 

A-2 Town or District High Schools 

A-3 County High Schools 

A-4 Approved Academies 

A— 5 Congressional District Schools 

A-6 Junior High School 

Perhaps a word should be said in explanation of the last three 
terms. An 'Approved Academy' is a familiar institution in the 
New England states. It is a secondary school supported in part at 
least by private, often church, interests, administered by a private 
board of trustees, but carrying certain courses of study approved by 
the state department of public instruction, that give it the standing 
of a high school with respect to tuitions, rebates, state aid, etc. 
Congressional district schools are familiar in the south. These are 
country-life high schools set up, maintained, and administered by 
the state. The 'Junior High School' is a public school maintaining 
a four-year course of study above the sixth grade, administered and 
supported by local authority, and duly approved by the state de- 
partment of education. 

Group B includes special agricultural schools more diverse in 
their organization, but alike in that they are specific institutions 
set up and maintained for the purpose of giving instruction in tech- 



Surroundings 5 

nology of agriculture, skill in agricultural processes, or both, and 
not for 'general education'. The sub-classes are self-explanatory: 

B-i State Agricultural Schools 

B-2 County Agricultural Schools 

B-3 Philanthropic Agricultural Schools 

Group C includes but a single school. This is a private prepara- 
tory school, under church auspices, independent, with respect to 
suppSrt, administration and approval, of both local and state 
authority. 

SELECTION OF SCHOOLS 

Before making up a schedule of vis'ts, letters were written to state 
superintendents, state agents in agricutural education, and agri- 
cultural college professors of education, asking for lists of secondary 
schools in which agriculture is taught in their respective states, and 
for a checking on those lists of schools which are doing representative 
work in that particular. Checking of schools that were 'good' or 
'representative' was made in nearly all cases, and was followed 
fairly closely in making out the schedule. In cases of doubt that 
school was visited in which it was known that the work had been for 
some time established. 

SURROUNDINGS 

In the matter of rural environment, fourteen of the thirty-nine 
schools of Group A are in villages or in the open country, six of the 
eleven schools of Groups B and C. But the advantage of the 
special schools in that particular is somewhat more than the figures 
indicate. Every one of the schools of Group B has on one or several 
sides, surroundings of open fields and farm land. On the other hand, 
only three of the schools of Group A may be regarded as unfavorably 
located with respect to access to the fields. From five to thirty 
minutes' walk will take students of the rest to farms. Perhaps, of 
the group, the most advantageously located in that respect are the 
congressional district schools. The table showing possession of land 
will throw further light on the matter. (See Equipment.) 

No distinct correlation between organization and location is dis- 
cernible, except as possession of land corresponds with more open 
surroundings. In the provision of outdoor work there is some rela- 
tion between the factors, such provision being usual in the special 
schools of the open country, rare in the village or town high schools. 



DESCRIPTION OF SCHOOLS 

In order that the classification adopted may be more clear than 
otherwise it might be, a brief description is given of one school in 
each of the sub-groups. Though no single school, perhaps, may be 
selected as the true type of the group for which it stands, yet the 
attempt has been made to describe schools that lie between the 
extremes. Details in regard to classroom, laboratory, shop, and 
outdoor methods of teaching have been reserved for the section 
devoted to method. 

A City High School 

This is a four-year high school of thirty-six weeks to the school 
year, requiring for entrance completion of Grade VIII in the com- 
mon schools. Agriculture is an elective subject by half units in the 
first and second years. The school has twenty teachers and a total 
enrolment of 467; girls 296, boys 171. Forty pupils have elected 
Agriculture, seven girls and thirty-three boys, of whom eleven are 
from farms. The average age of the boys in Agriculture is sixteen 
years. Up to 19 14 Agriculture was merely a half-unit of Elemen- 
tary Agriculture. This is the second year of the two-unit plan. 

The school is housed in a fairly good modern brick building, on a 
small lot in a city of 10,000 population. The surrounding country 
is one of heavy clay farms underlain with bituminous coal. Most 
farmers have royalties from coal lands or work a part of the time in 
coal mines. Agriculture is backward, though there is some grain 
farming and the common Middlewestern combination of corn and 
hogs. Apple orchards are numerous and the trees grow thriftily, but 
systematic cultivation, spraying and grading of fruit are rare. The 
community is prosperous through the possession of coal lands, but 
largely indifTerent to what is taught in the schools. The local board 
of trade has recently started a campaign to boom the agriculture of 
the region and has cooperated in agricultural club work and exhibi- 
tions with the extension division of the state college of agriculture. 
A number of the high school boys have won prizes in club work, but 
no regular cooperation with the agricultural instructor exists. 

The principal is favorable to the work in agriculture, if not enthu- 
siastic, and the same may be said of the attitude of the teacher. The 



Description of Schools 7 

one expresses a desire to 'make the work of real practical value to 
the student'; the other wishes 'to give a first-hand acquaintance 
with agriculture' sufficient to determine the predilection of the stu- 
dent for such a vocation. 

The teacher of agriculture holds the degree of Ph.B. from a small 
sectarian college, and has gained what knowledge he has of the 
technology of agriculture through reading. He was, however, born 
and brought up on a farm. He has spent two- summers in the study 
of education and botany at a university, and has for experience in 
teaching, one year in the grades, and six years as science teacher in 
the high school. Besides the ten periods in teaching in agriculture, 
he gives ten to Botany, and five to Zoology. His salary is $900 for 
the school year. 

The so-called science course follows : 



English 
Algebra 
Latin 


5 
5 
5 


English 5 
Geometry 5 
Latin 5 


or 




or 


German 


5 


German 5 


Freehand Drawing 
Soils and Crops 
Horticulture 


2/2/5 


Mechanical Drawing 2 
Zoology 5 

or 
Animal Husbandry 1/2I 
Farm Management 2/2 j ^ 


HI 




IV 


English 

Advanced Algebra 
Solid Geometry 
History 
Botany 


5 

5 
5 


Physics 5 
History 5 
Elective 5 
Elective 5 



The method of classroom teaching in agriculture is an exceedingly 
slavish text-book recitation. One period of laboratory work has 
been planned for, but never given, there is no shop work, and out- 
door work is conspicuous by its absence. During the recitation the 
teacher recommended attendance upon the local poultry show, but 
did not offer to go with the class. The class made a creditable at- 
tempt to render the text in their own words, but exhibited no par- 
ticular interest in the subject in hand. 



8 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

No adjustment of hours is made to meet the needs in agriculture, 
no attention is paid to season, and none to local needs, unless it 
appear in the injection of horticulture, which deals wholly with 
fruit growing, because gardening has been given in the grades. 
Some correlation is said to be made with agriculture in the botany 
classes, but the work witnessed in that subject was fully as stilted as 
the work in agriculture. 

A Town High School, State Aided 

This is a four-teacher high school, under a district superintendent. 
It is located in a far from prosperous town of about 2,000 population, 
in a rough and hilly country, where a Borden's milk station and a 
large dairy farm, producing certified milk, are the chief centers of 
industry. The attitude of the community and of the supervising 
officer is reported favorable to the work in agriculture, chiefly be- 
cause it brings a substantial state aid to the school. 

The total enrolment is fifty-four. In agriculture are ten girls and 
eleven boys. Eight of the boys are from farms. The work in agri- 
culture is in its second year. Entrance requirements are an age of 
fourteen years or completion of Grade VIII in the elementary 
schools. No students have been admitted, however, on the age basis. 

The teacher of agriculture is a graduate of the state college of agri- 
culture, without pedagogical training, and with one year of experi- 
ence in the teaching of high-school agriculture. He was brought up 
on a successful dairy farm, and has had a considerable experience in 
the handling of cattle. His attitude toward the work is one of sober 
enthusiasm. In agreement with the principal, he accepts the voca- 
tional aim in his work, but hardly looks to the turning out of ready- 
made farmers. In the school he has no other classes than those in 
agriculture. His salary is $1,100, with $200 additional for supervision 
through the summer of required home projects. 

The class period is forty minutes, daily periods for each class in 
agriculture being double. In fall and spring three double periods 
per week are assigned to outdoor work for each class. As the weather 
grows colder, shop work is substituted for outdoor work in two of 
these double periods, and the other is given over to classwork. All 
agricultural classes are taught in the forenoon, and afternoons are 
given to extension and home project work. The teacher reports that 
this half-day arrangement of his time is looked upon unfavorably by 
other teachers and townspeople. They feel that he is underworked 



Description of Schools 9 

and overpaid, when he is absent from the schoolhouse during the 
afternoon session. Alternation of years is not yet necessary, but 
will come in with the third year. 

The curriculum outlined for agricultural students is that suggested 
and approved by the State Department of Education. 

GRADE IX GRADE X 

English 5 English 5 

% Algebra 5 Geometry 5 

Biology 5 Ancient History 5 

Farm Shop and Poul-\ Soils and Fertilizers and 



try J Farm Crops 



GRADE XI GRADE XII 

English 5 English 5 

Physics 5 Chemistry 5 

German 5 or 

Fruit Growing | German 5 

Animal Husbandry and \ 10 United States History 

Dairying J and Civics J 

Farm Management and 
Agricultural Engineer- 
ing 



In order to meet the requirements of the state with respect to en- 
rolment in agriculture for state aid, girls were urged into the classes 
at the start. In the second year's class there are ten girls and one 
boy. To meet this situation the teacher has been sane enough to 
depart from the required content and has made the work a study of 
fruits, vegetables, and flowers for the home. The establishment of a 
home economics department in the coming year is expected to 
remove most girls from agricultural classes. 

No regular text-books are used in the class work in agriculture. 
Procedure is by topic assignment, in part general, in part to indi- 
viduals. Reference books and bulletins are both freely used. Upon 
the generally assigned readings recitation is made in answer to pre- 
pared questions by the teacher. Upon the individual assignments 
students report to the class for criticism. With the completion of 
every large topic examination is held, and the slate wiped. Such ex- 
amination was in process on the day of visit. The topic studied was 
poultry house construction with a view to preparation for the con- 



I o Organization and Method in A gricuUure in Secondary Schools 

struction of small houses for home projects in poultry, which had 
already begun. The questions follow : 

1. Give three materials used for a floor of a hen-house and give the chief 
advantages and disadvantages of each. 

2. What are the three principal types of roof? Which is most common? 
Show different types by diagram. 

3. Discuss the roosts in a hen-house, answering the following questions: 

a. How high should they be? 

b. What would be the objection to having them too high? 

c. How much roost space is required per hen? 

d. Should roosts be all on the same level? Why? 

e. How should they be fastened? Why? 

/. How should they be arranged in order to aid in keeping free from mites? 

4. How much window light would be required for a hen-house twelve by eigh- 
teen feet? On which side of the house would you have the windows? Should 
they be so they can be opened? Should they be longitudinal or vertical in posi- 
tion? Why? 

5. Give five different systems of ventilation and give the advantages and dis- 
advantages of each? 

6. Draw a floor plan of a house to hold 100 hens. Show the positions of the 
doors and windows, roosts and nests. 

Only one boy completed the answers to all questions in the eighty 
minutes, but all the rest asked to be allowed to come in after school 
to finish. The attitude of the boys, particularly with regard to the 
floor plan called for, was one of serious interest. 

In the second-year class, with ten girls, the topic for examination 
was varieties of apples. The questions follow: 

1. Name four varieties of apples adapted for keeping late in the winter. 

2. Name fifteen varieties of apples in order of time of ripening. 

3. Give a brief history of one variety. 

4. Name five varieties high in quality; three low in quality. 

5. Give a list of six varieties suitable for a home orchard. 

6. Draw a cross section of an apple showing the different parts. 

7. What are the four leading commercial varieties? 

8-9-10. Write opposite its number the name of each of the varieties on the 
table. 

Several specimens of each of thirteen varieties were placed 
on the table for identification by appearance, feeling, odor, and 
taste. The slicing up and tasting of the apples appealed par- 
ticularly to the class, which took the examination as a giggly 
guessing game. 



Description of Schools 1 1 

As samples of the evident attempt of the teacher to adjust the 
parts of his work to the problem in hand the following may be cited. 
School opened in the season of fairs. The entering class judged 
poultry at the fairs at the same time that they studied breeds and 
varieties of poultry in the classroom. Following the fairs the boys 
selected or purchased the poultry to be used in their projects. Mean- 
time the period for disposal of old hens and cockerels came on to dic- 
tate the next topic, the preparing and marketing of poultry. The 
laboratory work consisted of killing and picking and packing poul- 
try. ^Shop work, altogether in wood, was given over wholly to mak- 
ing equipment for poultry houses. 

In equipment the school is very scantily supplied. The school 
building is a wretched old plaster-cracked firetrap, on the third floor 
of which agriculture has been given separate quarters in three ad- 
joining rooms, one of which is used for class work at long pine tables. 
The others are dumping places. In spite of the meagerness of the 
supply of apparatus, the supply of fruit, vegetables, and cereals for 
examination was unusually creditable. A large supply of flower pots 
cluttered one room. These were used by the girls for growing gera- 
nium and begonia. 

Of land for agricultural purposes the school spared from fairly 
generous grounds only a few square rods for a hen yard, in which the 
teacher kept a small flock of pedigreed layers. 

Adjustment of the agricultural course to local needs can hardly be 
considered close here. But the teacher reports an intention to em- 
phasize dairying in particular. Adjustment to season and the 
supply of material at hand is marked. Recognition of group needs 
appears in the girls' agriculture. And there is some glimmering of 
recognition of the fact that the project may be a problem rather 
than an exercise. 

A County High School 

This is a four-year high school, including Grades VIII, IX, X, 
and XI, supported wholly by a state allowance of $3,000 per annum. 
Course, methods, and texts are dictated by the state department 
without regard to local conditions. Lack of supervision, however, 
leaves some freedom to an overworked principal. 

The faculty consists of four teachers, including the principal and a 
practical mechanic for the teaching of courses in carpentry and me- 



1 2 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

chanics, which have never yet been given. The enrolment is 140 
boys and girls, all from the country. In this, the third year, the 
growth is marked as against ninety in the first year, and 1 1 1 in the 
second. Pupils board in the town or attend daily from their homes. 
The principal, one teacher, and a number of pupils are housed 
in unoccupied school rooms of a hideous but substantial building 
of brick. 

The principal is a Bachelor of Science of a state university. He is 
farm born, and now owns a thirty-acre farm in the vicinity of the 
school. He has had ten years of teaching experience, and has 'read 
up' in agriculture as the occasion for teaching it has arisen. His 
whole day is given up to teaching, and his sixth week-day is given to 
supervision of rural schools. To meet this condition the high school 
is open on Saturdays and closed on Mondays. His salary is $1,500 
on a twelve-month basis. 

The school is located in a mining town wherein prosperity is con- 
fined to the few. The town is utterly raw and unattractive. Hogs, 
hens, and wandering mules dispute the right of way between puddles 
in the streets. The surrounding country is rough and mountainous, 
heavily wooded with pitch pine. The farms are sandy and poor, 
given over to corn, cotton, and razorback hogs. The attitude of the 
community is somewhat hostile to any attempt at secondary educa- 
tion. The school is still looked upon as an alien institution. 

All students, boys and girls, are held to one or the other of the 
courses presented by the state. Girls take such agriculture as is 
given, but for some reason the boys have been exempted from domes- 
tic science. They take manual training from which the girls are 
freed. 



COURSE A 




COURSE B 




I 
English 


5 


I 

English 


5 


Arithmetic 2/2 


5 


Arithmetic 2/2 


5 


Elementary Agriculture 


I, 


Elementary Agriculture ' 


U 


1/2 


P 


1/2 


P 


General Science 2/2 


5 


Beginner's Latin 2/2 


5 


English History 


3 


English History 


3 


Geometrical Drawing 


2 


Geometrical Drawing 


2 


Manual Training 


2 


Manual Training 


2 


Cooking 


2 


Cooking 


2 


School Garden 




School Garden 





Description of Schools 



13 



English 


5 


English 


5 


Algebra 


5 


Algebra 


5 


Horticulture 1/2 


5 






(not given) 








Botany 2/2 


5 


Beginner's Latin 


5 


General History 


5 


General History 


5 


Domestic Science 


2 


Domestic Science 


2 


Woodworking 


2 


Woodworking 


2 


(not given) 




(not given) 




Vocational Accounts 


2 


Vocational Accounts 


2 


School Garden 




School Garden 




III 




ni 




English 


5 


English 


5 


Plain Geometry 


5 


Plain Geometry 


5 


Physics 


5 


Physics 


5 


Agriculture 2/2 


5 


Caesar, Books I-IV 


5 


(not given) 








Either Animal Husban- 








dry, Dairy, Poultry, 








or Field Crops 








Home and Community 




Home and Community 




Sanitation 


2 


Sanitation 


2 


Farm Mechanics 


2 






(not given) 








Domestic Arts 


2 


Domestic Arts 


2 


School Garden 




School Garden 




IV 




IV 




English 


5 


English 


5 


Solid Geometry 1/2 


5 


Solid Geometry 1/2 


5 


Algebra 2/2 


5 


Algebra 2/2 


5 


Chemistry 


5 


Chemistry 


5 


American History and 




American History and 




Civics 


5 


Civics 


5 


Rural Economics 


3 


Cicero, six Orations 


5 


(not given) 








School Garden 




Latin Prose Composition 





The work in agriculture, of which the aim is said to be 'prevoca- 
tional', is text-book recitation. Several of the boys have worked 
with the principal in growing about one-eighth acre of cotton on 
school land that they have cleared up. All have worked in the grad- 
ing of an athletic field that is nearly ready for use. Into the school 



1 4 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

garden, of which the faculty is very proud, boys and girls have ven- 
tured on occasion. The garden is a heart-shaped enclosure of per- 
haps four square rods, largely in paths, but given over in part to 
bulbs and flowers. An industrious girl might use two or three hours 
a week in the care of it during fall and spring. It represents, how- 
ever, what is accomplished under the caption 'School Garden' 
throughout the four years of the course outlined. In the schoolhouse 
are several ornamental plants in pots, which have suffered from the 
cold weather. These may, perhaps, be included in the school garden 
work. 

Manual training is taught in a shop which has been fitted up in 
the basement by local carpenters, and is a faithful following of the 
prescribed process outline. The teacher is a woman graduate of a 
state normal school. 

Correlation with country life in other subjects than agriculture 
may be noted in the vocational accounts, and sanitation. Other- 
wise there seems to be none. 

No laboratory work is given in the sciences, because the school 
has no equipment. In books of reference it is poverty stricken. The 
only reference book in agriculture is a United States year book of 
ancient vintage, which had never been used. All that the school 
possesses is represented in two acres of raw land and a barely fur- 
nished building. 

The struggle of teachers to carry out the rigid prescription of the 
state department, in the midst of poverty and unfriendly surround- 
ings is an example of missionary spirit worthy of the highest praise. 

A New England Academy 

This school is under church backing and is administered by a 
private board of trustees. It has a modest endowment and some 
income from gifts. It serves as a local high school under state ap- 
proval, with the right to tuition from townships served. The ma- 
jority of the pupils are boarders, but about one-third attend by the 
day. The school has boys' and girls' dormitories, a gymnasium, and 
a fairly good frame school building. 

The location is in a small village at the foot of a mountain in rough 
and beautiful country, well forested, with a few moderately prosper- 
ous dairy farms, and some prospect of successful orchard farming. 
Already the school has an excellent reputation as a preparatory 
school and the possession of it is a matter of local pride. The princi- 



Description of Schools 15 

pal stands well with the community, and anything that he under- 
takes is fairly certain of the endorsement of the townspeople. This 
has been true of the work in agriculture, which is now in its fifth 
year. 

The total enrolment of the school is ninety, fifty boys and forty 
girls. For entrance, an age of thirteen years and examination based 
on eighth-grade completion are required. The school has been grow- 
ing slowly during the past few years, and the enrolment in agricul- 
ture has somewhat more than kept pace with the growth of the 
school as a whole. In 1911-1912 there were twelve boys in agricul- 
ture comprising fifteen per cent, of the total : 

1912-13 — 18 boys in Agriculture, comprising 15 per cent, of the total 

1913-14 — 25 boys in Agriculture, comprising 23 per cent, of the total 

1914-15 — 20 boys in Agriculture, comprising 21 per cent, of the total 

1915-16 — 28 boys in Agriculture, comprising 31 per cent, of the total 

Agriculture is housed with physics and chemistry in the base- 
ment rooms of a separate building, and has a rather scanty labora- 
tory equipment, consisting of a soils auger, tubes and balances, a few 
cereal and fertilizer samples, and a Babcock tester. There is a 
separate basement shop for woodwork and blacksmithing, in which 
the three forges smoke so badly as to require an adjustment of the 
hours for work to a time when the schoolrooms above are not occu- 
pied. There are benches and tools adequate for the needs of present 
classes. 

The school has thirty-five acres of land, which can hardly be re- 
garded as a farm. There is half an acre of garden, cared for during 
the growing season by hired 'help', which is of some use for work in 
agriculture, a small orchard of apple trees, the pruning and spraying 
of which is done by students in agriculture; a five-acre plantation of 
young white pines set out by students; and a small herd of grade 
dairy cattle, which furnishes milk for the boarding pupils. The herd 
has been tested by students and used for judging purposes. 

The principal is a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Divinity, 
who looks upon agriculture as a liberalizing rather than a vocational 
subject, and has encouraged boys whose purpose is not definitely 
preparation for college to elect that work. The teacher of agricul- 
ture is a young man, city born, whose farm experience has consisted 
in one summer's work on a farm. He is a graduate of an agricultural 
college, has had a summer's course in pedagogy, and one year's 
experience as a high school teacher of agriculture. With respect to 



1 6 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

the aim of his work, he is a Httle uncertain, but desires to make the 
course practical, even if it does not turn out farmers. The shop 
teacher, who also teaches the forestry course, is farm born, but has 
no college training. He is a practical workman of the best type, and 
an enthusiastic teacher. Five other teachers are enrolled in the 
faculty, among them a teacher of domestic science, who carries a 
course in agriculture for girls. 

The boys in agriculture average in age seventeen years and two 
months ; twenty are from farms, eight from towns. Their attitude 
in the agricultural classes was largely one of indifference, but in the 
active work of the shop they were taking hold with a will. 

The approved curriculum for a four-years' course of thirty-seven 
weeks per year is as follows: 



GRADE IX 




GRADE X 




Soils and Crops 


5 


Farm Crops and Animal 1 


\5 






Husbandry J 


Art 


2 


Art 


2 


English 


5 


English 


5 


Algebra 


5 


Geometry 


5 


Farm Carpentry 


5 


Forge Work 


5 


GRADE XI 




GRADE XII 




Dairying 


h 


Horticulture 




Horticulture 


Farm Economics 


'7 






Rural Sociology 




English 


5 


English 


4 


Forestry 


5 


United States History 1 


U 






and Civics J 


n 


Physics 


6^7 


Chemistry 


5 



In the approved curriculum in domestic science for girls is a single 
unit of agriculture, in the first year consisting of home gardening, 
home decoration, and floriculture, as a direct adjustment to the 
needs of girls. The class is taught by a woman and is largely text- 
book work. In fact, the work in the agricultural classes is domi- 
nantly recitation from assigned lessons in text-books. The question 
and answer method used reveals no skill on the part of the teacher, 
and allows of little initiative on the part of pupils. With text open, 
and scanning the pages, the teacher confined himself to snap ques- 
tions, many of them leading, designed to show whether or no the 



Description of Schools 1 7 

pupils had read the assigned lesson. The result was a rather unin- 
teresting confirmation of the fact that most of them had. 

The outdoor work for the day was a lesson on weeds, of which the 
garden furnished an ample assortment. Each boy was provided 
with a mimeographed outline of the points to be noted. Most of the 
points had to do with botanical distinctions, such as arrangement of 
leaves on the stem, and nature of inflorescence. As the leaves were 
withered and the flowers gone to seed, the notes were filled in by 
guesswork as the boys lay at ease under the trees. When it was 
found that only five weeds were recognized either by boys or teacher, 
all others were cast aside and the note-taking confined to the 
five. No point definitely leading to method of control of the weed 
entered into consideration at all, despite the plan of the lesson in 
advance. 

In shop work the teaching was much more Scttisfactory. Every- 
body was busy with a particular project of his own, following his 
own working drawings. The teacher had little to say. A feAv times 
boys came to him with questions as to procedure, which he answered 
carefully either in words or by demonstration. At the end of the 
period every boy brought his work up for criticism, which was frank 
and fair. 

No farm work is required or provided, though the shop boys have 
done some repair jobs and construction work, notably, a concrete re- 
taining wall of very creditable workmanship. Home and school 
projects are prospective only. The plan is to provide home work for 
day pupils and individual plots for boarders, who will have to hire 
others to carry on their garden work during the summer. 

The school hours are sixty minutes in length, twenty minutes of 
which is given to supervised study, if the teacher is so disposed. 
There are no double periods in agricultural courses or in shop work, 
and the shop instructor reports himself handicapped by the arrange- 
ment. Since the school receives no state aid, it is felt to be necessary 
for the agriculture teacher to give part of his time to other work. 
Accordingly, he has charge of the classes in physics and chemistry. 
In neither course is any attempt at correlation made with the work 
in agriculture. The reason given is that "the college entrance re- 
quirements stand in the way of it." In order that the teacher may 
have time for the additional work in science, an alternation of yearly 
topics in agriculture is practised. Thus Freshmen, this year, take 
soils and crops along with Sophomores; Juniors and Seniors take 



1 8 Organization and Method in A gricultu re in Secondary Schools 

dairying and horticulture together. Next year the work of the 
second and fourth years in agriculture will be given. 
In this school the more notable adjustments appear: 

1. As to local needs, in the introduction of forestry as a full unit 
and the emphasis upon dairying in the animal husbandry course. 

2. As to needs in the line of progress, the emphasis upon fruit 
growing in horticulture. 

3. As to seasonal demands, the provision of a spring to fall se- 
quence for the completed cycle of growth in crops and horticulture. 

4. As to group distinctions of pupils, in the provision of a special 
unit of agriculture for girls. 

A Congressional District School 

A school established by the state in one of the congressional dis- 
tricts of a Southern state, receiving $10,000 per year from the state 
for maintenance. Administratively, the school is a department of 
the agricultural college. The curriculum is uniform with that of the 
other congressional district schools and is laid down in annual con- 
ferences of the school principals with the authorities of the agricul- 
tural college and the professor of secondary education at the uni- 
versity. Occasional visits by the latter officer constitute the super- 
vision. 

The school is located in the open country, three miles from the 
nearest village and railroad station. The surrounding country is 
rough or rolling, much of it in woods. The soil is rather light and 
poor and the farming backward. Cotton, corn, and hogs are the 
chief products, but there is some peach orcharding. After eight 
years of growth the school has succeeded in changing the attitude of 
local hostility to one of tolerance that bids fair to become friendly. 

The school owns and operates a farm of 250 acres, 100 acres in 
crops, cotton, and forage, and fifty in pasture. The state of tillage is 
good and the crops fair. A small orchard and demonstration plots 
are located near the main buildings. Farm buildings are decrepit 
and badly arranged, but a new concrete silo marks the start for a 
new set of better ones. A large gasoline engine in a concrete pump 
house delivers water from a 'run' to the school buildings. Another 
furnishes power for sawing wood, a djmamo, and for the small shop. 
Of horse machinery there is a reasonable supply in fair condition. 
The poultry plant has an incubator and brooders. 



Description of Schools 19 

An excellent flock of Rhode Island Red hens marks the most pro- 
gressive selection in live stock. A herd of rather inferior grade 
Jerseys supplies milk. A score of hogs and two teams of mules 
complete the quota of live stock. 

The school buildings are of brick. A main recitation building, 
dining hall, and girls' dormitory built on the characteristic plan of 
these schools, under contract, show the characteristic bad work- 
manship noted in other schools. The roof leaks, the walls are damp, 
and the plaster is falling away, the floors are uneven. In contrast is 
the boys' dormitory, constructed by student labor after a fire had 
destroy^ the original building. Though most of the brick used in 
the walls is that left from the fire, even the appearance of the build- 
ing is more substantial than that of the others. The building will 
be usable when the others have fallen to ruin. 

In this school the handicap of debt is one that is frequent under 
the present system. New construction, equipment, and repairs, 
must be undertaken from the maintenance allowance. Bad original 
construction, for the school is in the eighth year only, has entailed a 
heavy burden for repairs. Under a new law some relief is looked 
for. Division among the schools of inspection fees on fertilizers and 
agricultural products is expected to bring the annual income from the 
state to $15,000. 

Eight teachers, including the principal, make up the faculty. The 
enrolment is 215, 144 boys and seventy-one girls. All boys take 
agriculture, and ninety per cent, of them are from farms. Entrance 
requirements stipulate completion of Grade VII, but enforcement 
is not strict. Twenty-four pupils have been admitted on approval 
by the principal. The average age of boys is eighteen. 

The principal holds his A.B. from the state university. He was 
born and brought up on a farm and has had ten years of teaching ex- 
perience. He conceives the aim of his school to be preparation for 
country living. He is vigorous and enthusiastic, a man of his hands 
as well as an unusual man in the classroom. But, though the man- 
agement of farm as well as school is in his hands, the teaching of 
agriculture is not. 

Science and agriculture are taught by a young man recently 
graduated from the school itself. He has had one year of experience 
in a one-room school and is in his second year in his present position. 
His aim is to relate the productive science of agriculture to the unity 
of which it is a part. Despite a farm bringing up and his training, 



20 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

he is handicapped by a Hmited knowledge of his subject. His salary- 
is $540 for the thirty-six weeks of the school year; that of the 
principal, $1,500 and board for himself and family throughout 
the year. 

The course of study is that agreed upon at the conference above 
mentioned. No laboratory work, however, is actually given, be- 
cause the school has no equipment for it. Otherwise, the outline is 
followed : 



English 


5 




English 


5 




Arithmetic 


5 




Arithmetic 


2 




United States and State 


\ A 




Algebra 


3 




History 


> 4 




European History 


3 




Advanced Geography 


4 




Biology and Sanitation 


5 




Spelling and Writing 


I 




Spelling and Writing 


I 




General Agriculture 


4 




Breeds 


2 




Poultry 


I 




Dairy 


I 




Free Hand Drawing 1/2 


I 


(3) 


Stock Judging 


I 


(3) 


Woodwork 2/2 


I 


(3) 


Farm Crops 


2 




Domestic Arts 


2 


(3) 


Forge Work 

Domestic Science and 


I 
1 


(3) 








Art 


h 


(3) 



English 


5 




English 


5 


Algebra, 7 months 


5 




Geometry 


3 


Geometry, 2 months 


5 




Advanced Civicj 


3 


European History 


3 




Chemistry 


3 


Physics 


3 




Teacher Training 


2 


Teacher Training 


3 


* 


Soils 1/2 


3 


Feeds and Feeding 1/2 


3 




Soils 2/2 


2 


Feeds and Feeding 2/2 


2 




Fertilizers 1/2 


2 


Elementary Horticul- 


\ 




Fertilizers 2/2 


3 


ture 1/2 


( ^ 




Elementary Surveying 


I 


Elementary Horticul- 


\ 




Domestic Science and 


\^ 


ture 2/2 


1 ^ 




Domestic Art j 


Feeds Lab. (not given) 










Horticulture Lab. (not 










given) 










Mechanical Drawing 


I 


(3) 






Domestic Science and 


u 


(3) 






Domestic Art 


p 







(3) 
(3) 



Substituted for work in Agriculture or Domestic Science. 



Description of Schools 2 1 

The classroom work in agriculture is a rather dull text recitation 
as faithful to the text as may be. In the crowded room where some 
students were obliged to sit on the floor near a hot stove, several fell 
asleep, and lost nothing by it. 

The shop work emphasizes mathematics and drawing and follows 
a process manual. But the boys have accomplished a good deal of 
repair and construction work. All repairs are made by students, 
and, in addition to the dormitory mentioned, they have erected a 
large concrete silo, a hen house with incubator room, the shop it- 
self, and the pumphouse. Students are chosen to run the engines 
and dyrramo. 

Outdoor work to the extent of thirty hours per month is required 
of all students. They have charge of dormitories and school build- 
ings and of all work but cooking in the dining hall. They work by 
assignment under supervision on alternate half days; the upper 
classes on one, the lower on the other. The tasks assigned arise out 
of farm and school needs, according to season. All work above the 
required thirty hours is paid for at from fiive to ten cents an hour, 
according to the work and the ability of the student. Some students 
have paid all expenses by means of such work. 

Students may have for their own use one-tenth acre of land of 
which the product shall be theirs. Prizes are offered for most eco- 
nomical production from these plots. Over summer the principal 
takes care of the plots, charging regular rates against the crop for 
horse and man labor. Experimental plots, according to the design 
of the agricultural experiment station, are under direction of the 
teacher in agriculture and cared for by students in his classes. 

No close correlation between classroom and outdoor work occurs, 
except as accident may bring it about. In chemistry, the attempt is 
made to tie up with work in agriculture, and the survey work is di- 
rectly applied to the farm, but in other particulars, no correlation 
with productive agriculture is apparent. 

Nine volumes of reference constitute the agricultural library. 

The earnestness and interest of students seemed unusual. It was 
less evident in the productive agriculture than anywhere else. 

Junior High School 

This is a new school, housed in an excellent new building, but 
already, in its first year, overcrowded. All grades from I to XI are 
housed in the building under five teachers, two of whom give all 



22 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

their time to the 'Junior High School'. In the state the elementary 
school runs through nine grades, but the division line in this school 
is drawn at the close of grade VI. Above this grade the school is 
divided into four groups at present made up as follows: I, Grade 

VII and those of the lower standing in Grade VIII ; II, Upper Grade 

VIII and Grade IX; III, Grade X; IV, Grade XI. I and II are 
taught in a room together; III and IV in another room on the 
second floor. In the basement is a room neatly equipped for 
domestic science and another neatly, but scantily, equipped for 
agriculture. 

The school building stands in a large lot on the edge of a small 
but neat and prosperous village. Behind it rears a beautiful moun- 
tain, wooded nearly to the peak. Hay and dairy farms are scattered 
along the river and on the hills, but lumber is still the principal crop. 
The school is a matter of pride with the community and the intro- 
duction of agriculture and domestic science under state approval has 
been favorably received. 

The principal is a young man just graduated from the state uni- 
versity, where he took his B.S. from the agricultural college. In his 
last year he took courses in pedagogy and practice teaching in rural 
schools and in agriculture in the city high school. He is enthusiastic 
and earnest. His expressed aim in agriculture is to make the work 
'practical'. He teaches mathematics, geography, hygiene, and 
agriculture, having only four periods a week free from teaching. 
His salary is $900 for the academic year of thirty-six weeks. 

The total enrolment is 148, sixty-four in the Junior High, thirty- 
four girls and thirty boys. All boys take agriculture, are from farms, 
and every one has a garden and can milk. 

School periods are thirty minutes, with ten minutes for supervised 
study. Agriculture comes in the last periods of the afternoon to 
allow of outdoor work, which had, in the first five weeks, consisted 
in one excursion for the study of soils origins. 

The curriculum follows: 



Arithmetic 


5 


Arithmetic 


5 


English 

Writing and Spelling 

Geography 

Reading 


5 
5 
5 
5 


English 

Writing and Spelling 

Reading 

Geography and Hygiene 


5 
5 
5 
5 



Description of Schools 23 



Algebra 


5 


Geometry 


5 


English 


5 


English 


5 


Writing and Spelling 


5 


Writing and Spelling 


5 


United States History 


5 


United States History] 


\^ 


Agriculture 


5 


and Civics J 


or 




Agriculture 


5 


Domestic Science 


5 


or 




or 




Domestic Science 


5 


Latin 


5 


or 
Latin 


5 



One period a week in agriculture is given to lecture and two 
double periods to text-book recitation or laboratory demonstration 
by the teacher. The boys at present are divided into two groups of 
twenty-one and nine, the smaller group being the more advanced. 
Both groups study the same topics in the same text, but the 
smaller group proceeds more rapidly. There is no shop work 
and no projects are in use or in prospect. Outdoor work is at a 
minimum. 

The only adjustment noted in agriculture was the selection of 
variation and heredity as the first topic, to convince pupils that 
agriculture is no 'snap course'. Five weeks of the mountain 
autumn season had been given to this effort. The class appeared 
convinced. The interest in agriculture was very faint indeed. On 
the other hand, the interest in arithmetic was very marked, and the 
class work remarkable for the spontaneity and initiative of pupils. 
No set text was used, and to each pupil was assigned the task of mak- 
ing a text of his own from materials of his own home experience. The 
correlation with farm life appeared very close. In no other subject, 
however, appeared any attempt to teach in terms of country life. 

The maintenance of interest in individual problems even in this 
one subject promises to be a considerable task for a teacher so heavily 
overloaded with work, but the start made is very encouraging. 

A State Agricultural School 

This is one of the special schools of agriculture and home eco- 
nomics provided by the state, having an aim primarily vocational. 
Support of the school is through legislative appropriation. 

The school offers a regular two-year course, requiring for entrance 
an age of sixteen years, and completion of Grade VIII, and short 



24 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

winter courses for which only the age requirement is necessary. 
Pupils are for the most part boarders, who find rooms and meals in 
the village, though some go back and forth daily to their homes. 
Total enrolment is 193, boys 120, girls seventy-three. In the two- 
year course of agriculture are fifty boys, thirty-four of whom are 
from farms, in the short course twenty-six farm boys. The students 
are somewhat more mature than those found in the high schools, and 
show a greater variation in school preparation, as the following 
figures on age and preparation make plain : 



Preparation 


Class IQ16 {boys) 


Class igi7 {boys) 


Some college work 
Completed high school 
Three years high school 
Two years high school 
One year high school 
Completed grade VIII 
Completed grade VII 


I 
ID 

6 

18 
19 
15 

I 




5 

6 

12 

13 

13 





Age at Entrance 


Class IQ16 {boys) 


Class iQiy {boys) 




16 years 


9 







17 years 


10 


7 




18 years 


17 


5 




19 years 


II 


8 




20 years 


10 


7 




21 years 


8 


10 




22 years 


2 


7 




23 years 


2 






24 years 


2 






25 years 









26 years 


I 






29 years 










Average age, 19.66 years. 



20.8 years. 



On the basis of preparation boys have been separated for instruc- 
tion into three groups: A, 3 years or more of high school; B, i and 2 
years of high school; C, completion of Grades VII or VIII. 



Description of Schools 25 

The school is now in its sixth year and shows a fairly consistent 
growth as may be noted by the enrolment of boys in agriculture: 



YEAR 


NUMBER ENROLLED 
IN AGRICULTURE 


I9IO-II 




32 


I9II-I2 




34 


1912-I3 




47 


I913-I4 




55 


1914-15 




103 


I915-16 




78 



Estimated average percentage of farm boys eighty-five per cent. 
The length of the year is thirty-four weeks. Periods of class 
work are forty minutes, with double periods for laboratory and 
shop work. 

The faculty consists of twelve members. The principal is a 
Bachelor of Science, of a state university, who was for four years 
head of the department of agriculture in a large preparatory school, 
and has been principal here since the start. He was born in the city, 
but moved to a farm when a baby and was a farm boy till he entered 
college. His salary is $2,700 and house on a twelve-month basis. 

In charge of academic work for the boys is a Master of Arts, who 
before entering college was a mechanic in a small country town. He 
studied education during two years of college, and is now in his sixth 
year as teacher in this school. His salary is $1,500 on a 12-month 
basis. 

The teacher of agronomy and farm mechanics holds his Master's 
degree in agriculture, from an agricultural college. He was farm 
born and raised. For two years he was instructor in an agricultural 
college, and has taught in his present position since the school 
started. Salary $1 ,500, twelve months. 

The teacher of animal husbandry and dairying holds his M.S. from 
an agricultural college. He was farm born and brought up, and has 
served a year and a half as instructor in an agricultural college. He 
has held his present position for six years. Salary $1,500, twelve 
months. 

For teaching horticulture and botany is employed a young man, 
farm born and reared, who has his B.S. from an agricultural college. 
For a year after graduation he managed a large truck farm. He is in 
his second year as teacher. Salary $1 ,500, twelve months. 



26 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

The poultry work instructor is a B.S. in agriculture, not farm born, 
but of several years' experience in farming. In college he took work 
in education. Teaching experience, three years, salary $1,500, 
twelve months. 

For veterinary science a practising veterinarian has been em- 
ployed on a part time basis since the school started. Stipend, 
$1,000. 

The instructor in chemistry, English, and athletics is a city-born 
youth, holding his B.S., not in agriculture. He has taught here for 
four years. Salary $1,100, twelve months. 

In shop work a practical mechanic has been employed since the 
school started. Salary $1,000, twelve months. 

In agronomy and horticulture a graduate of the school acts as 
assistant at a salary of $900. 

The regular course, which is differentiated into special lines in the 
second year, is outlined as follows: 

JUNIOR YEAR 



Fall Term 


Spring Term 


English 


3 


English 


3 


Farm Arithmetic 


3 


Bookkeeping 


2 


Botany 


4 


Poultry 


2 


Chemistry 


3 


Chemistry 


3 


Physiology 


3 


Breeds 


2 


Soils and Manuring 


4 


Farm Crops 


3 


Stock Judging 


I 


Stock Judging 


I 


Shop 


2 


Shop 


2 


Drawing 


I 


Drawing 


I 






Elementary Horticulture 


2 






Dairying 


2 



SENIOR YEAR 

Fall Term 
Required of all Courses 



English 



United States His- 
tory and Civics 



Soil Fertility 



Description of Schools 



27 



SENIOR YEAR 

Fall Term 



Course in General 
Agriculture 


Course in Animal 

Husbandry and 

Dairying 


Course in 
Poultry 


Course in 
Horticulture 


Stock Feeding 3 
Agricultural En- 
gineering 2 
Farm Crops 2 
Forging and Re- 
pairs 2 
Drawing i 
Elective 3 


Stock Feeding 3 
Dairy Products 4 
Stock Judging i 
Veterinary Sci- 
ence 2 
Elective 3 


Poultry Man- 
agement 

Marketing 
Poultry 

Dairying or 
Fruit Grow- 
ing 

Elective 


3 
2 

3 

5 


Fruit Growing 
Insect Pests 
Floriculture 
Elective 


4 
2 
2 
5 



Spring Term 
Required of all courses 



English 



United States History and Civics 3 



Farm Management 3 



Course in General 


Course in Animal 


Course in 




Course in 


A griculture 




Husbandry and 
Dairying 


Poultry 




Horticulture 


Soil Fertility 


2 


Animal Man- 


Poultry Man- 




Orchard Practice 2 


Animal Manage- 




agement 3 


agement 


3 


Plant Diseases 2 


ment 


3 


The Horse i 


Poultry Prob- 




Sprays and 


Farm Machinery 


2 


Dairy Products 2 


lems 


I 


Spraying 2 


Shop 


2 


Stock Judging i 


Incubation and 




Market Garden- 


Elective 


3 


Veterinary Sci- 


Brooding 


2 


ing 2 






ence 2 


Dairy Products 




Elective 4 






Elective 3 


or Orchard 
Practice 
Elective 


2 

4 


^ 



Classroom work savors in method of the agricultural college. Lec- 
tures predominate, but text-book recitation and discussion of topics 
form a part of the work. In one class visited the lecture was a virtual 
dictation from typewritten outlines. Students were occupied 
mostly with the business of trying to keep up with the lecturer. At 
the end of the period the instructor announced that the contents of 



28 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

the lecture were to be found in a state experiment station bulletin, 
which might be had for the asking. As a drill in writing at top speed 
the lecture was a success. Yet this lecture, like the others heard, 
showed an excellent preparation on the part of the teacher and a 
definite attempt at application to concrete cases of established prin- 
ciples of control. 

The laboratory work, as seen in the soils class, was a performance 
of experiments, individually, in accordance with a printed manual of 
directions. The instructor moved quietly am.ong the boys, giving 
directions as to what should be observed and noted in the record 
books. The dairy laboratory class was at work pasteurizing milk, 
testing samples, and churning butter. Though the laboratory was 
well equipped, the class was too large for effective work. Six boys 
kept busy at the assignments while the other twenty-six stood round 
waiting for the period to expire. 

Of farm work no regular requirement is made. Outside work is in 
charge of the instructor whose particular subject is involved. In 
horticulture the attempt at tying up the outdoor work with the in- 
door class work was marked. For instance, while the class lecture 
dealt with propagation by cuttings, boys were assigned to starting or 
cuttings in the greenhouse. 

No regular distinction is made in outdoor work between city and 
farm boys, but the principal has given directions that with new 
students tasks involving primary skills, such as harnessing and milk- 
ing, shall be performed by city boys, whereas weighing and mixing 
of rations, preparation of sprays, and like work not performed by 
boys on ordinary farms shall be given first to country lads. It is his 
desire that students shall be given opportunity at the school to ac- 
quire those skills which they are unlikely to learn on the home farm. 
Some definite grouping and rotation in processes through regularly 
required farm work seems desirable to this end. Some observation 
work is done on neighboring farms, but most of the practice is on the 
school farm. 

Shop work is by process sequence with little or no attention to the 
useful individual project. 

Correlation between agricultural and other subjects occurs in 
arithmetic, botany, drawing, and English. 

Recurrent treatment appears in the sequence of specialized courses 
after the general course of the first year. 

Classrooms are in the buildings of the former county court, but 



Description of Schools 29 

there is a new demonstration building with a generous judging pa- 
vilion, and a well-kept greenhouse for work in botany and horticul- 
ture. The farm equipment is excellent, without being over-expen- 
sive and elaborate. The shop is large, well-lighted, and amply 
equipped. The school farm is of 200 acres of good land, rolling, and 
mostly in crops. A young orchard of seven acres, two acres of 
small fruit, and a two-acre garden are close by the school buildings. 
Recently a tract of 175 acres of forest land, some miles from the 
school, has been acquired. 

In live stock the farm is fairly furnished. The herd consists of 
forty-fivG' pure bred and grade dairy cattle, housed in an up-to-date 
and business-like barn. There are two teams of draft horses, and one 
light team, pure bred Yorkshire, Berkshire, and Cheshire hogs, small 
flocks of Shropshire and Rambouillet sheep, and an excellent poultry 
plant, with flocks of pure bred fowl. On the whole, there is little on 
the farm that might not be maintained on a good business farm of 
like size and soil. A student might leave such a school with the hope 
of one day matching its conveniences on his own farm, whereas he is 
likely to cast from his mind as hopeless the elaborate and expensive 
improvements to be found at many of the colleges of agriculture. 
The library has 189 volumes on agriculture. 

The community served is the state. No special adjustments to 
local needs appear. Seasonal adjustment appears in the term se- 
quence of subjects. 

A County Agricultural School 

The farm and plant of this special vocational school of Agriculture 
and Domestic Economy were provided by the county four years ago. 
Toward maintenance the county contributes annually $3,000, the 
state $6,000. The farm of 128 acres is a good one, and though man- 
aged primarily for demonstration purposes and the dissemination of 
good seed, is already on a paying basis, a very unusual state of af- 
fairs in a school farm. The buildings and equipment of both farm 
and school are adequate and excellent throughout. Of live stock 
there are twenty-nine grade dairy cattle, five horses, eight pure bred 
sows presented by farmers in return for first choice of one pig from 
the respective litters, and a flock of hens. 

The community is one of prosperous farms on strong, rolling land. 
General farming prevails, but there is a well-developed and growing 
dairy interest, and a considerable market garden area in the neigh- 



30 Organization and Method in A gricuUure in Secondary Schools 

borhood of the county's one city. The attitude of the farmers is dis- 
tinctly favorable to the school. A local board of farmers cooperates 
with the state board of industrial education in control of the insti- 
tution. 

The enrolment is eighty-five, some day pupils and the majority 
boarding pupils, who find their meals and lodging in the village. 
Twenty- three girls take the work in domestic economy; sixty-two 
boys, all of whom are from farms, the work in agriculture. The en- 
rolment includes all students, those in the regular courses and those 
in the winter courses. 

The school year is of thirty-two weeks ; fall term nine weeks, win- 
ter term fourteen weeks, spring term nine weeks. For students who 
have completed Grade VIII, or for mature students whose evidences 
of capacity satisfy the principal, a two-year course for the full year 
is open. Thirty-two boys and young men and four girls have en- 
tered under this arrangement. Students of fifteen years of age may 
enter a course of two successive winter terms. Thirty students are 
entered in this group. The short year and the winter course are 
planned in recognition of the fact that farm boys and girls cannot 
well be spared from home during the growing season — a fact of con- 
siderable importance in a consideration of special agricultural 
schools. 

A principal, who teaches, and five teachers make up the school 
faculty. The principal holds a diploma from a state normal school 
and the degree of B.S. in agriculture from the state university. He 
was farm born and raised, and has had twelve years' experience as 
superintendent and teacher. His salary is $2,000 for twelve months. 
The farm is in his charge and the demonstration and extension work 
that is a feature of the summer's plan. 

In addition, for the agricultural subjects, there is employed a young 
man, now in his fourth year as teacher here, who holds the Bachelor's 
degree in agriculture from the state university. At the university he 
took the courses in education offered in the agricultural college. 
He was born and brought up on a farm. Salary $1,250, for ten 
months. 

For shop work the teacher is a farm born man educated at a tech- 
nical school, an efficient workman, and teacher of four years' experi- 
ence. Salary $1,350, for twelve months. 

The regular two-year course, which carries high school credit for 
two years, and the winter course follow: 



Description of Schools 



31 



TWO-YEAR AGRICULTURAL COURSE 
JUNIOR YEAR 



Fall Term 


Winter Term 


Spring Term 


Carpentry 


4 


Carpentry 


4 


Carpentry 


10 


Mechanical Drawing 


ID 


Forge Work 


6 


Types of Animals 


2 


Dairying 


6 


Dairy Bacteriology 




Agronomy 


4 


Plant Study 


3 


and Sanitation 


4 


Horticulture 


5 


Farm Arithmetic 


5 


Types of Animals 


4 


English 


5 


English 


5 


Agronomy 


3 


Bookkeeping 


5 


Chemistry 


5 


Arithmetic 


.5 


Music 


3 


Music 


3 


Chemistry 

English 

Music 


5 
5 
3 







SENIOR YEAR 



Fall Term 


Winter Term 


Spring Term 


Stock Judging 


4 


Feeding of Animals 


5 


Farm Management 


5 


Carpentry 


4 


Farm Mechanics 


5 


English 


5 


Field Crops 


4 


Forge Work 


6 


Farm Mechanics 


10 


Horticulture 


3 


Carpentry 


4 


Feeds and Feedings 


3 


English 


5 


Soils and Fertilizers 


5 


Civics 


5 


Building Plans 


5 


United States History 


5 


Veterinary Science 


5 


United States History 


5 


English 


5 


Cooking 


4 


Music 


3 


Stock Judging 
Music 


4 
3 


Music 


3 



Elementary agriculture for girls, 5 

On this course the state university allows four units entrance 
credit. 

winter's course in AGRICULTURE 



First Year 



Farm Arithmetic 

Carpentry 

Business English 

Horticulture 

Animal Husbandry 

Dairy 

Forge Work 



5 
6 

5 
5 
5 
1-4 

4 



Second Year 



Feeds and Feeding 
Soils and Fertilizers 
English 
Farm Crops 
Farm Mechanics 
Carpentry 
Stock Judging 



5 

5 

3 

3 

1-4 

4 

4 



32 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

So far as possible the winter classes are held with the regular 
classes, because of the heavy schedule. The English classes, however, 
are entirely distinct, the regular course English being in accord with 
college entrance requirements, the short course adapted to real 
needs. 

There is a weekly special lecture, with lantern slides, or moving 
pictures for all students. 

Classroom work is about evenly divided between lectures and 
text-book recitation. Laboratory work in soils and crops and dairy- 
ing is individual, in other courses mostly demonstrations by the 
teacher. 

Shop work and drawing are correlated. Students are drilled in the 
mechanics of drawing before undertaking working drawings for use 
in the shop, and building plans. In like fashion woodwork and forge 
work begin with process demonstration and practice and grow 
through assigned to optional projects, which are the property of stu- 
dents. In mechanics the work in particular is meritorious. Gas en- 
gines are very thoroughly mastered. 

Of outdoor work none is required except at planting time. For the 
rest the farm gives opportunities for observation and practice that 
are pretty largely foregone. In fact, the farm, which is at its best 
when the students are away, is looked upon as an incubus rather than 
an aid educationally. Its chief purpose is demonstration for the 
farming community. 

Of home projects there are none other than the keeping of herd 
records. 

The noteworthy adjustments in this school are the conformity of 
the academic subjects, so called, in the regular course to approved 
high school standards, and the requirement of a brief course in cook- 
ing for boys, and in agriculture for girls, 

A Philanthropic Agricultural School 

This is a private philanthropic foundation for Jewish youths of 
New York and Philadelphia, now in its thirteenth year. For en- 
trance an age of eighteen years, the physique for farm labor, and the 
approval of the principal, secured by personal conference, are neces- 
sary. To successful candidates for entrance all privileges of the 
school are free, including board and rooms. The capacity of the 
school, 105, is regularly filled, and a long waiting list makes it possi- 



Description of Schools 33 

ble to dismiss students for any breach of regulations or failure in 
earnest work. 

The aim of the school is to make of Jewish lads American farmers, 
managers, and foremen. Attainment of skill in the art of agriculture 
takes precedence over acquirement of technology. Because of the 
lack of expense to the student and because the boys are from the 
city, where no special summer demand requires their labor at home, 
the work continues through the twelve months of the year. The 
course is three years in length. 

The usual date of entrance is March, but the beginning of the 
spring terfh is with the beginning of the outdoor work, when the soil 
is fit. When outdoor work becomes pressing, most of the classroom 
work is given over for the summer term, which lasts till the crops are 
harvested and the silo filled in the fall, usually about October first. 
The demands of farm and season dominate in the arrangement of 
class work. Six days make a week of work, and for farm work during 
the slack season alternation of classes outdoors and in the class- 
room is practised. In the forenoon two classes are in the school 
rooms and one on the farm, in the afternoon one indoors and the 
other two out. Class periods are forty-five minutes with no doub- 
ling. 

From the state the school receives $10,000 a year, from Hebrew 
societies and gifts about an equal amount, and from the farm an in- 
come varying from $9,000 to $14,000. The income from the farm in 
the last year was more than six times its original cost. All work of 
production, improvement, construction, and repair is performed by 
students under the direction of instructors or foremen, who are 
graduates or selected senior students. No building has been erected 
or made over, no stock or machinery purchased until the distinct 
need of it has been felt and the money banked in advance. That is, 
the farm is a business plant developing out of its own accumulation 
of capital. On this basis it is a remarkably successful farm and a 
decided financial asset to the school. Against this, however, may be 
set the fact that a supply of labor, not paid in wages, exists beyond 
the needs of a farm of the type. The principal states that if he were 
to allow even moderate wages for much of the necessarily inefficient 
labor of 'green' city boys, it is doubtful that the farm would show a 
profit. 

Because of this supply of labor, however, and the sane method of 
development, the four hundred acres of rolling farmlands are in a 



34 Organization and Method in A gricuUure in Secondary Schools 

state of tilth and cleanly cultivation extraordinarily pleasing. Three 
hundred and fifty acres are in crops, with a large peach orchard that 
returned a $2,500 crop in the past year, a clean and thrifty apple 
orchard, vineyard, and extensive gardens. The stock is represented 
by seventy head of good grade dairy cattle, twenty-seven horses, 
twenty to 100 swine, according to the season, and 600 to 3,000 fowl. 
A large motor truck goes to Philadelphia twice a week in the summer 
and once a week in winter with produce. 

All outdoor work of the boys arises out of the needs of the farm 
and school plant. Rotation in the tasks by groups is the regular pro- 
ceeding. The boy must master the elementary skills before he can 
assume responsibility. In the first year his work is for the most part 
with hand tools, in the second year he may drive a team, in the third 
year he has his turn in driving the truck to Philadelphia and mar- 
keting the product. Even the more difficult task of marketing 
'seconds' is entrusted successfully to the boys, who look upon this 
opportunity as a reward to be sought. For instance, peaches or 
apples excellent for cooking or canning, but not of the appearance 
necessary to command a price in Philadelphia are gathered into loads, 
and the loads assigned to boys singly or in pairs for peddling out in 
neighboring towns. Only one requirement is set. The load shall 
fetch a certain small sum, $3.00 or $5.00 as the case may be. Any 
margin beyond that belongs to the salesman. Never, says the prin- 
cipal, has one returned disconsolate. 

Thus the outside work of the school, except as it deals with 
excess of labor at a given task, comes to correspond very closely 
with the work of a real farm. The school is well designated a 
'farm school'. 

To accord with the farm, the school equipment and buildings are 
plain and serviceable. Except for dairying, the laboratory equip- 
ment is small, and the shop is one designed to meet farm needs rather 
than class purposes. An excellent greenhouse provides not only 
work for students in horticulture, but products for sale. In the farm 
buildings not only the labor, but the plans of students have been 
used. As an instance of the method of growth: The number of 
young stock had increased to a point beyond the capacity of the 
barns. Senior students and instructors met for consultation as to 
whether the surplus should be sold, or a new stable and lintel erected. 
Because of ample supply of forage the choice was for a building. The 
boys were then asked to submit plans for a suitable building. From 



Description of Schools 



35 



that plan held in conference to be most suitable the building has 
been erected. 

So far does the atmosphere of the farm predominate that classes 
meet dressed in overalls. But, with that atmosphere there is a disap- 
pointing drop from the practicality of the outdoors. Text-book reci- 
tation closely competes with the formal lecture. Farm problems no 
longer control, but 'the nature of the subject'. Laboratory work is 
at a discount. Farm work and class work run on parallel tracks, 
and on different schedule, so that the danger of collision is averted 
as successfully as in many schools where the farm does not loom 
large. 

The course of study as outlined below shows adjustment to season, 
but little to local demand. On the other hand, the success of the 
farm has been in no small part due to heed to that demand, from the 
market and soils angles of selection. The plan for recurrent treat- 
ment and the use of physics and chemistry as subjects preparatory 
to the study of productive agriculture are fairly obvious features of 
the curriculum, that are not usual: 



Spring Term 




Summer Term 


Fall Term 


Winter Term 


General Agri- 




General Agri- 


Farm Arith- 




Algebra 


3 


culture 


5 


culture 3 


metic 


3 


Physics 


3 


Arithmetic 


5 


Farm Arith- 


Physics 


3 


Business Arith- 




English 


4 


metic 2 


Business Arith- 




metic 


3 


Botany 


3 


Physics 3 


metic 


3 


Botany 


3 


Entomology 


2 


Farm Work (42 


Botany 


3 


Entomology 


2 


Physiology and 




hours) 


Entomology 


2 


General Agri- 




Hygiene 


I 




General Agri- 




culture 


3 


Elementary 






culture 


3 


Poultry 


3 


Physics 


5 




Physiology 




Farm Work (31 




Practical Dem- 






and Hygiene 


I 


hours) 




onstration 


2 




Farm Work (32 








Farm Work (31 






hours) 








hours) 















36 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 



Spring Term 


Summer Term 


Fall Term 


Winter Term 


Geometry 


3 


Surveying 3 


Dairy 


3 


Poultry and 




Chemistry 


3 


Chemistry 3 


Agricultural 




Breed Culture 


3 


Vegetable Gar- 




Farm Work (48 


Chemistry 


3 


Organic Chemis- 




den 


3 


hours) 


Vegetable Gar- 




try 


3 


Entomology 


2 




den 


3 


Nursery 


3 


Fungous Dis. 


2 




Agricultural 




Agricultural 




Dairy 


3 




Physics 


3 


Physics 


3 


Farm Work (31 






Plant Path. 


3 


Fertilizers 


3 


hours) 






Entomology 
Pomology 
Farm Work (3 1 
hours) 


I 

3 


Plant Path. 
Farm Work (31 
hours) 


4 



Spring Term 


Summer Term 


Fall Term 


Winter Term 


Agricultural 




Veterinary 


Greenhouse 




Greenhouse 




Geology 


3 


Lectures 2 


Construction 


3 


Management 


3 


Forestry 


3 


Breeding 3 


Floriculture 


3 


Rural Bacteriol- 




An. Physiology 


3 


Judging I 


Vert. Zoology 


3 


ogy 


3 


Agricultural 


3 


Farm Work (42 


Cereals 


3 


Cereals 


3 


Chemistry 


3 


hours) 


Agricultural 




Agricultural 




Feeding 


3 




Literature 


3 


Literature 


3 


Fertilizers 


3 




Agricultural 




Farm Manage- 




Zoology 






Chemistry 


3 


ment and Civ- 




Farm Man- 


2 




Domestic 




ics 


3 


agement and 






Plants and 




Farm Work (31 




Civics 


3 




Animals 


3 


hours) 




Farm Work (31 






Farm Man- 








hours) 






agement and 
Civics 
Farm Work (31 
hours) 


3 







The faculty has nine members, including a practicing veterinarian 
on part time, and a woman teacher from a high school who comes in 
for the English, Entomology, botany, and zoology are taught by a 
woman graduate of a state normal school and student of the univer- 
sity. 



Description of Schools 37 

In charge of the greenhouse and horticultural work is a practical 
gardener of many years' experience, trained in the Kew gardens of 
London. He receives $1 ,000 and a home. The classroom work is car- 
ried on by a recent graduate from an agricultural college. Another 
is in charge of the poultry classes. 

In dairying, an experienced farmer, graduate of an agricultural 
college, is employed at $1,600. 

The teacher in charge of all agricultural work shows an unusual 
training. He is a Master of Science in agriculture, farm born and ex- 
perienced, for twelve years professor at an agricultural college, and 
connectM for several years with a state experiment station and the 
United States biological survey. His salary is $2,000. 

The principal, who receives $2,500 and his home, was for many 
years president of a state college. He studied agriculture, after grow- 
ing up on a farm, at an agricultural college, as a graduate student at 
Halle, and took his Ph.D. from Gottingen. His teaching work is 
in the chemistry of agriculture. 

Preparatory School 

The single school listed in group C is an endowed preparatory 
school, founded under religious auspices, but non-sectarian in its en- 
rolment, in which most of the states of the Union and numerous for- 
eign countries are represented. The school year is divided into three 
terms of fifteen weeks each, and entrance may be made in any term. 
For entrance an age of sixteen years, an attested good character, and 
ability to do the work, constitute the requirements. The length of 
the course is twelve terms, divided into six forms. But the first 
three terms of work are of an elementary nature. With form 2-b 
begins work of high school grade, and the courses in agriculture. To 
this form entrance may be made by passing an examination not far 
from equivalent to eighth-grade completion, plus a fairly accurate 
acquaintance with the contents of the English Bible. Many stu- 
dents enter at this stage in the course. In the six forms are 700 boys, 
all of whom are boarders. 

Agriculture is an elective subject by courses. Of these courses 
there are four: General Agriculture, A, B, C, as shown in the out- 
lines. Horticulture A, B, C, Animal Husbandry, A, B, C, Dairy A, 
B, each letter representing a term's work of five fifty-minute periods 
per week. In the outline, the sequence of agricultural courses is such 
as would be taken by a student enrolled for all agricultural work. 



38 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

Very few students are taking all the courses, and election results in 
groups heterogeneous with respect to age and preparation. The agri- 
cultural sequence begins with General Agriculture A in the fall term. 
The academic subjects are those recommended to students by the 
head of the department of agriculture. Those marked with a cross 
are required. In the agricultural courses, in this, the twelfth year 
since their installation, are enrolled fifty-six mature students, aver- 
aging in age nineteen years, ten months, forty-two of whom are 
from farms. 

The aim of the agricultural work is threefold : 

1. To dignify manual labor. 

2. To qualify practical farmers and superintendents. 

3. To prepare for agricultural and other colleges which give 

credit for two units of the work: 



SECOND FORM B 



Elective 10 ■ 



t Bible 2 

t English 3 

t Algebra 5 
J Modern Languages 

or Latin 5 



SECOND FORM B 



Elective 10 < 



Science 5 

United States His- 
tory 3 
Elementary Agricul- 
ture A 5 



THIRD FORM A 


THIRD FORM B 




t Bible 

t English 

t Algebra 

f Modern Languages 


2 
3 
3 




t Bible 
t English 
t Geometry 
X Latin 


2 
3 
5 

5 


Elective 10 ■ 


or Latin 


5 


Elective 10 - 


t German 


5 




Science 


5 




Mathematics 


5 




Civics 


3 




Science 


5 




Farm Crops B 


5 




History 

Farm Management 
C 


3 

5 



t Required. 

+ Specially Recommended. 



Description of Schools 



39 



FOURTH FORM A 


FOURTH FORM B 


( 


t Bible 


2 


( 


t Bible 


2 




f English 


3 




t English 


3 




t Geometry 


5 




1 Latin 


5 




X Latin 


5 




X German 


5 


Elective lo • 


Science 


5 


Elective 15 < 


Mathematics 


5 




X German 


5 




Science 


5 




History 


3 




History 


3 




Horticulture A 






Horticulture B 






(Vegetable Gar- 






(Fruit Grow- 




' 


dening) 


5 


^ 


ing) 


5 



FIFTH FORM A 


FIFTH FORM B 




t Bible 


2 




t Bible 2 




t English 


3 




t English 3 




t Solid Geometry 


5 




t Advanced Algebra 5 




1 German 


.5 




X German 5 




Mathematics 


5 




Mathematics 5 


Elective 10 ■ 


Science 


5 


Elective 10 


X Physics 5 




History 


3 




History 3 




Horticulture C 






Animal Husbandry 




(Ornamental 






A 5 




Gardening and 








^ 


Forestry) 


5 


^ 





SIXTH FORM A 


SIXTH FORM B 




t Bible 


2 


r 


t Bible 


2 




t English 


4 




t English 


4 




X German 


5 




1 German 


5 


Elective 15 \ 


1 Mathematics 


,S 


Elective 15 { 


1 Mathematics 


,S 




X Physics 


5 




X Physics 


5 




History 


3 




History 


3 




Ancient History B 


5 




Ancient History C 


5 


^ 


Dairy A 


5 


^ 


Dairy B 


6 



t Required. 

X Specially Recommended. 



40 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

The faculty of thirty-six is divided into ten departments, one of 
which is agriculture, with two men, the superintendent of the 
farm and head, and a teacher who gives all his time to class- 
room work. 

The farm superintendent and head of the department holds his 
B.S. in agriculture, and has had six years of teaching experience. He 
was born and raised on a farm and has had sixteen years' experience 
as farm superintendent. Salary $2,100 and house. 

The classroom teacher holds no degree, but has had four years' 
agricultural college work and six years' teaching experience. He was 
born and raised on a farm and thinks and talks in the farmer's 
language. Salary $1,400 and house. 

The head is a believer in the efficacy of 'clear exposition by lec- 
ture', but text-book recitation is nearly as frequent in the classroom. 
This follows the text faithfully, but is lighted up somewhat by dis- 
cussion in terms of real experience. 

Laboratory work, aside from that in the dairy room, plays but a 
small part. Standard experiments are occasionally set up and 
demonstrated by the teacher. Of shop work there is, as in the pre- 
ceding school, only such as may come in assignment to repairs. 

Observation and judging, and some practice in pruning and spray- 
ing are carried on under the teachers, but the outside work, of which 
two hours per day is required, including one full day in the week, is 
for the most part assigned tasks to groups selected in rotation by the 
head, and under foremen. It thus has no constant or necessary rela- 
tion to the work of the classroom. 

The school plant is a large and excellent one, with the exception of 
the agricultural laboratory. The school farm is of 1,000 acres, of 
which 400 acres are in crops, fifty in silage corn, with an apple or- 
chard and large garden. Of stock, there are 175 head of pure bred 
Holstein cattle, much in evidence at fairs, thirty horses, 100 hogs 
and a large flock of hens to supply the 700 students and faculty with 
eggs and poultry 'in commons'. Farm buildings and machinery are 
excellent. In the library are 118 volumes of agricultural reference 
and a large file of bulletins and papers. 

The school is in the open country in a fairly prosperous dairy re- 
gion. Soil and market conditions have determined the emphasis on 
dairying, but the so-called scientific order of presentation dominates 
in selection and presentation of agriculture. No distinction is made 
between farm and city boys. 



Description of Schools 41 

Knowledge of subject matter both in the technological and prac- 
tical aspects, is marked in the teachers, but the lack of correlation 
between indoor and outdoor work in circumstances, seemingly pecu- 
liarly favorable, is as distinct as in an agricultural college. 



AIMS 

In every school visited when the principal could be consulted he 
was asked for a statement of the aims in agricultural courses. In 
all the schools of Group A the instructor in agriculture was asked 
for a statement of his aims. In the school of Group B the aims ex- 
pressed are rather those of the school as a whole than of the courses 
in agriculture, but, as the work in those schools is dominantly agri- 
cultural, the statements are classified with those from the other 
schools in Table 4. 

This classification cannot be considered rigid or exemplary. There 
is too much vagueness in the expression used, too little uniformity in 
meaning of the captions, and that even to a considerable extent in 
schools for which the state department has made a definition of aim. 
Thus, most of the instructors in the state-aided departments re- 
ported the aim of their work as 'vocational', but only five consid- 
ered their work an entire preparation for productive farming. One 
principal of a high school, carrying only courses in domestic science 
and agriculture, and labeled by the state 'Vocational School', 
stated that his aim was to turn, as many students as possible 
into the state normal schools, and to send his most promising stu- 
dents to college. Since the state college and the normal schools were 
willing to accept the preparation from his school, and the state paid 
a large share toward maintaining a school that without aid could not 
be maintained by the community, he felt that the so-called voca- 
tional work should be regarded as preparatory. In general, the 
meaning of 'vocational' seems to be understood as preparation for 
beginning intelligently the productive work of the farm. All state- 
ments conveying that meaning and those containing the word voca- 
tional have been listed in the first column. 

The word 'practical' was very frequently used. In general, it 
seems to denote 'usable knowledge', something that 'they can do 
with', something that can 'be used on the farm'. But as to what 
knowledge can be used in practice on the farm, there is difference of 
opinion. One instructor said of an excursion for the study of geo- 
logic origins of soils, "If that isn't good practical agriculture, I 
don't know what is." 

The broader objective of preparation for that mode of life which 
is called agriculture was stated only five times. That agricultural 



Aims 43 

education implies a preparation for country living is recognized in 
the stated aims of the Congressional district schools. It does not 
follow, however, that schools for which an expressed aim, less 
broad, is given are doing less to the attainment of that end. 

Prevocational is a troublesome word, but was used six times to 
express the aim of high school agriculture. To be sure, one principal 
expressed the aim as "prevocational, if any," but the others were 
more certain of their object, "To gain a sympathy with and under- 
standing of farm life," another put it. "Units of science that may 
give an opportunity for intelligent selection of a calling," conveys 
the idea, of predilection that seems a part of the idea expressed by 
others, and in particular of one experienced head of agricultural 
education in a great state. His words were to this effect: "There 
are three aspects to the aim of agriculture in our high schools: the 
prevocational, the vocational, and the liberalizing. It should give 
opportunity for sympathetic and intelligent election of an occupa- 
tion; preparation for the productive activities of that occupation, 
and insight as to the implications of a great social activity." 

Only four times was the object of an enlarged intellectual and 
emotional appreciation, the liberal or cultural aim, expressed, though 
'culture' was in no case defined. On the other hand, only twice was 
doubt expressed as to the 'cultural' value of agriculture. One 
principal said: "We strive for culture. We do not advertise our 
agriculture. It is for the local farmers' sons." Another said he 
much regretted that he had not been in office at the time of the 
establishment of the work in agriculture, so that he might have 
forestalled its introduction. He intended to give his best efforts to 
a reduction of the time devoted to it, not that it was not useful, but 
because 'culture' was more worth while. 

The college preparatory aim is evident in more cases than those 
in which it was actually stated. In no case was it given as the 
primary aim of agricultural work. In the study of the curriculum 
the marked influence of the preparatory idea will come out. 

Other aims expressed were preparation for 'citizenship', or the 
'active duties of a citizen', 'to reach the boy', 'to reach the 
parent', 'to dignify manual labor'. And two principals rejoiced 
in the introduction of vocational agriculture as an 'entering wedge 
to the overthrow of a tyrannous system' of uniform state exami- 
nations. This they regarded as, if not an end, at least a justification 
for agriculture in the curriculum. 



EQUIPMENT 

Table 5 shows the possession of land by the various schools, 
either as plots owned, hired or borrowed, or as a school farm. It 
will be noted that nineteen of the high school group have the use of 
some land, and seven own farms. Of the other groups, all have 
farms. The amount of land in plots owned, hired or borrowed for 
agricultural purposes varies from a small hen-yard in a town high 
school to twenty acres in a city high school. Other town or district 
high schools report one-fourth acre, one-half acre (two schools), one 
acre (two schools), one and one-half acres, two and one-half acres, 
four acres, nine acres and ten acres respectively. Other city schools 
report one-fourth acre, one-third acre, one-half acre, eleven acres re- 
spectively ; county high schools, two acres and seven acres; academy, 
three acres. Three academies have farms of thirty-five acres, and 
150 acres (two) ; Congressional district schools, one sixty acres, two 
250 acres, one 312 acres; county agricultural schools, one eighteen 
acres, one 126 acres, one 136 acres, one 130 acres, of which ninety 
acres are still under lease to a seedsman and not available for school 
uses. Of the state schools, one has a farm of 200 acres, one of 2,000 
acres; the other is given the use of the university farm and equip- 
ment of the state. The philanthropic schools have farms, one of 
ninety-three acres, one of 400 acres, one of 600 acres. The prepar- 
atory school has a farm of i ,000 acres. The uses to which plots and 
farms are put will be discussed briefly later. 

Table 5-A shows the possession of neat stock, cattle, swine, or 
sheep, horses, or mules, poultry, and farm machinery. The parallel 
with respect to possession of farms is fairly exact in the schools of 
Groups B and C. The state schools are adequately, two of them 
even magnificently, equipped with stock and machinery. For in- 
stance, one state school owns 250 head of pure bred cattle, forty 
horses, lOO pure bred swine, and all the necessary modern machinery 
of a 2,000-acre farm. Three of the country agricultural schools have 
an excellent equipment of machinery and satisfactory live stock. 
The other is run on a home project basis, and has a relatively small 
equipment. The philanthropic schools are equipped, two of them 
on a business basis only, but have the necessary machinery and 



Equipment 45 

stock for good farming. The other is on the home project basis and 
has largely foregone the possession of live stock. The preparatory 
school has 175 head of pure bred dairy cattle, thirty horses, and an 
excellent business equipment. 

In Group A, the possession of live stock is at a minimum. Poultry 
is the most frequent item. The Congressional district schools, 
though possessed of large farms, are conspicuously understocked and 
under-equipped. Fifteen to twenty cattle of inferior quality, on 
three farms, and one bull on the other represent the cattle. Some 
good mules and pure bred hogs were found on these farms, and one 
flock of ffure bred poultry. Only one had the farm buildings and 
machinery that may be found on any moderately prosperous north- 
ern farm of the size. In respect to use of land, these schools make 
a much better showing than the equipment would indicate. They 
are fighting an uphill fight against poverty. 

Of the farms owned by academies, only one really deserves the 
name of farm. The others are tracts of land on which the school 
stands. That one farm has a small well-housed herd of good dairy 
cattle, a pair of good horses, nondescript hogs and poultry, wallow- 
ing in filth, and a very modest equipment of machinery and build- 
ings. Good poultry is kept by another academy; the third has a 
handful of grade dairy cattle. In the town and county high schools 
represented, the poultry consists of pure bred flocks. The machinery 
varies from a single gas engine to a room stocked with modern horse 
implements donated by warehouse concerns. 

Two city high schools and one town high school have small green- 
houses. One is "a place to keep ornamental plants when they are 
not needed for parties," another is used for classes in botany, and 
the third is a place in which students in horticulture grow tomatoes, 
peppers, cabbage and other plants for sale. Seven of the schools in 
Group B have greenhouses that are in regular use by agricultural 
students. Six schools of the high school group have placed the 
agricultural classrooms and equipment in separate buildings. In 
one case, this building was constructed for the purpose; in another, it 
is a rented store, well fitted up; in the others, school buildings which 
have been abandoned for other purposes. In eight cases, all agri- 
cultural work is conducted in the basement. In one county school 
and two city schools the instructor in agriculture was allowed no 
classroom of his own. 

Twenty-seven of the thirty-nine schools in the high school group 



46 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

have some shop equipment. Twelve are equipped for woodwork 
only, ten have forge as well as carpentry fittings, and five have 
small farm shops with a bench and tools, and in three cases, a forge. 
The equipment varies from rough benches built by the boys with 
their own tools to the elaborate manual training rooms of the city 
high school, with electric power and individual benches. The 
equipment listed in the first two columns is classed as scanty in the 
case of five town or district high schools, three of them state-aided, 
in one county high school, one Congressional district school, and one 
academy, state-aided; as adequate, in the case of one city high 
school, state-aided, five town or district high schools, state-aided, 
one county high school, one academy, and one Congressional dis- 
trict school; as excellent, in the case of three city high schools, two 
state-aided, and one Congressional district school. 

In Group B, forge and woodwork equipment, with power, is found 
in nine schools. This equipment is rated adequate in the case of 
one county agricultural school and one philanthropic school; as 
excellent, in the case of the others. 

Table 5 shows the possession and rating of laboratory equipment 
in all schools. Of the five schools listed as having no equipment, 
four had equipment of some sort for chemistry or physics. The two 
philanthropic schools rated as having scanty equipment were ad- 
equately equipped for dairy work, and the preparatory school 
excellently so equipped. Poverty in respect to laboratory material 
is marked in the schools of Group A, twenty-two of the thirty-nine 
having only scanty equipment, or none at all. The case is particu- 
larly marked with the Congressional district schools, only one of 
which is possessed of equipment, and that very scanty. On the 
other hand, as in the matter of stock and machinery, and shop 
equipment, the schools of the special type, Group B, stand in 
rather marked contrast. 

Tables 6-A and 6-B show the possession of bulletins and volumes 
for reference in agricultural subjects. The number of bulletins 
owned by the school is not recorded. At the start of the investiga- 
tion a count was made in several schools, but the time required was 
too great. With bulletins coming in at frequent intervals, it was not 
astonishing that no instructor knew the exact number of bulletins 
in his possession. In general, the classified lists were larger than the 
scattered. In the schools of Group B, the bulletins may be num- 
bered even in thousands. Two schools, both of which possessed 



Equipment 47 

classified lists, required the students to send to the state agricultural 
experiment station and to Washington for such bulletins as must be 
studied. Opinion prevailed that books are more satisfactory than 
bulletins for reference use. Every instructor of whom the question 
was asked afifirmed that opinion, but the question was not asked of 
more than thirty instructors. In the matter of reference books, 
three schools, one city, one town, and one Congressional district 
school, reported dependence on public libraries, but did not know 
how many volumes on agricultural subjects were available in them. 
In Tables 6, 6-A, and 6-B the same general differences between 
Groups A and B as in the other equipment tables are observable. 
In the matter of equipment, as might be expected, the special schools 
of agriculture have advantage of schools of the high school type. 

In forty-three schools, lists of agricultural reference books were 
secured, and in all schools lists of the text-books actually in use in 
agricultural subjects so recognized. Of different titles there appear 
in the lists 628. Counting only one volume to each school, either as 
text or reference, the total comes to 2,226, of which 1,978 are reference 
books, 248 texts regularly in use. Variation in the number of refer- 
ence volumes is shown in Table 6-B. In Table 7 are shown the 
number of titles under the topic treated and the number in each 
such group now in regular use as text-books. The distribution may 
suggest confirmation of the statement made previously concerning 
the productive aspect of the mass of country life publications. A 
list of titles appearing in five or more schools as reference or texts is 
given also. (Table 8.) 



TEACHERS 

Among schools of the high school type, in Group A, teachers of 
agricultural subjects are ordinarily called upon to teach subjects 
other than those recognized as belonging to the field of productive 
agriculture. In twenty-six of the thirty-nine schools the teacher of 
agriculture is so employed. The granting of special aid for agri- 
culture to the high school usually entails the requirement that the 
teacher shall give all his time to agriculture. In Maine and Wis- 
consin, the requirement is not made. In Minnesota, the amount of 
state aid is diminished in the ratio that time given by the agriculture 
man to other subjects bears to the total of his teaching hours. But 
in other states the requirement is not strictly enforced. Of the 
twenty-six schools in which teachers give part time to other classes, 
ten are receiving grants of state aid particularly for the maintenance 
of agricultural courses. It is noteworthy, however, that for the 
thirteen schools in which all teaching time by those men is given to 
agriculture, special state aid is granted. Two or three added sub- 
jects are common. 

In a school not receiving state aid for the special subject it is not 
ordinarily possible to employ a teacher whose whole time shall be 
given to the teaching of the one subject. In schools receiving special 
aid the newness of the installation of the work may mean that the 
teacher is not yet fully employed by the tasks of his own depart- 
ment, and that he is, accordingly, drafted into other work. 

Commonly, the teacher of agriculture, even in the high school 
group, gives a part of his time to extension work outside of school 
hours. In twenty of the thirty-nine schools of Group A this fact 
appears. He may. also have charge of garden work in the grades, or 
even of the teaching of agriculture in the grades, as is shown in the 
same table. 

In only five schools of the first group did the teacher of agriculture 
serve as principal also. Most commonly he acted, if called upon 
for other subjects, as teacher of the sciences, botany, physics, zo- 
ology, chemistry, or general science, but the range of subjects 
taught by high school teachers of agriculture is wide, as may be 
seen in Table 8. 



Teachers 49 

In the fifty schools visited, the regular teachers of agricultural 
subjects were men, in the schools of Groups B and C strictly depart- 
mental teachers; in the schools of the high school group more widely 
distributed as to duties. One county high school, and two town 
high schools state-aided, employed two men for the agricultural 
work, but the rule in the high school is the employment of a single 
teacher. It is not to be inferred, however, from the results of the 
study that teachers of agriculture in the high school are always men. 
In Table i-D, dealing with the distribution of salaries among 
teachers of agriculture in the high schools of Iowa, where no state 
aid is givtn, it is shown that fifty-eight out of the 406 teachers in 
the list are women. In the half-unit and one-unit courses common 
in middle western rural high schools, where the text-book dominates 
in company with the state manual, there is no reason why an intel- 
ligent woman, even from the city, should not conduct the course in 
approved fashion as well as the male teacher of science, the principal, 
or the superintendent. But in the more promising schools consid- 
ered in the study, the tendency to employment of specially trained 
men is marked. 

In Tables 9 and 9-A the training of seventy-nine teachers of 
agriculture, forty-two in Group A and thirty-seven in Groups B and 
C is shown, together with the visitor's rating of the teaching ability 
demonstrated at the time of visit. This rating can hardly be re- 
garded as conclusive in any particular. It is, of course, impression- 
istic, and subject to the variations in mood, and the personal atti- 
tude of the visitor. Moreover, it is based upon but a single visit. 
Yet it was made with certain criteria in mind, particularly, knowledge 
of the subject displayed, specific applications in discussion, concrete 
and thought-provoking questioning, evaluation and emphasis, evi- 
dent motive and initiative in the class. In certain subjects, partic- 
ularly in the field of agricultural engineering, the visitor is not qual- 
ified to pass judgment upon the knowledge shown by teacher or 
class, or upon the evaluation and emphasis given to different phases 
of the work. Accordingly, teachers in these subjects have for the 
most part not been rated. If any suggestion is to be derived from 
this rating, it is that the somewhat superior training of teachers in 
the schools of Groups B and C makes itself evident in the class- 
room. 

As factors in training are listed, birth and upbringing, duration of 
farm experience of city-born teachers, years of teaching experience, 



50 Organization and Method in A gricuUure in Secondary Schools 

length of pedagogical training, preparation in subject including, for 
shop teachers, the 'school' of trade practice. 

It will be noted that of the seventy-nine teachers in the table, 
sixty-five were born and brought up on farms. In the high schools 
eleven of the forty- two were city or town bred, of those in the special 
schools only three of thirty-five; more than twenty-five per cent, in 
the one group, less than ten per cent, in the other. Most of these 
city-born teachers have had some farm experience, only three re- 
porting none outside of that connected with their agricultural college 
training. An experience, however, only in summer work is one by 
no means equivalent to that which takes in the winter aspects of 
farm living also. The teacher whose record shows an experience of 
six summers had undertaken consistently to make up what he felt 
was a defect in his training. During the eight summers he has had 
free since his graduation from college, he has spent six as a hired 
laborer, each on a different farm in a different locality. In the other 
two, he made trips to the middle west and Pacific slope and traveled 
afoot through farming sections. Among the farm-born teachers are 
several who have been for from one to twenty years, managers or 
working owners of farms. 

In teaching experience, many of the men are deficient. Twelve 
are in their first year, forty-five have taught three years or less, of 
whom thirty-three are in the high schools. In length of experience 
the advantage lies with the teachers of the special agricultural 
schools, twenty-two of the thirty-five having had from four to 
twenty-two years of teaching. 

Twenty-six of the seventy-nine teachers have had some measure 
of pedagogical training, varying from a single summer's course in 
education, to the completion, in one case, of the requirements for the 
Master's degree in educational subjects. With respect to training 
in the teaching process, the high school group makes the greater 
showing. Eighteen teachers have taken courses in education, 
twelve of them during the last year of their college course. 

Agricultural college training is the rule, thirty-seven of the forty- 
two teachers in Group A reporting such training; in Groups B and 
C, thirty-two of the thirty-nine, seven being shop men of trade or 
technical school training. The degree of B.S., given by an agri- 
cultural college is by far the most common, appearing fifty- three 
times, thirty-four in the high schools, nineteen in the other groups. 
Master of Science in agriculture appears once in the high school 



Teachers 51 

group, six times among the agricultural schools. The degree of 
Ph.D. is held by directors of three of the agricultural schools. 

The typical teacher in the high school group holds his B.S. from 
an agricultural college, was born and raised on a farm, has taught 
school less than two years, and has had no pedagogical training. 
The same may be said of the teacher in the agricultural school 
except that his experience in teaching is five years and he is more 
likely to have achieved a higher degree. The generalization must 
not be carried over into the whole field, however, though the differ- 
ence would become more marked. • 

Under the home project scheme common in state-aided high 
schools, and in the agricultural schools where extension work is 
usually a duty of the teacher, he is likely to be hired for twelve 
months, rather than for the academic year ; fifty-nine of the seventy- 
nine teachers are so hired. In the unaided high school such tenure 
is probably the rare exception. 



SALARIES 

Table lo shows the range of salaries among 406 teachers of agri- 
culture in the high schools of Iowa, where no special state aid is 
given. In the data available there was no means of determining 
whether or not the teacher of agriculture was also the principal or 
superintendent. That he is, is doubtless the case frequently, and 
tends to skew the distribution upward. In Iowa, it would appear 
that it is more profitable to be a man than a woman, more profitable 
to have some agricultural college training than to be without it. 
For all teachers of agriculture $900 is the favorite allotment of 
salary; for women about $650, for men from agricultural colleges 
about $1,000, for women from agricultural colleges about $700. 

The effect of state aid upon salaries may be noted on page 26-A 
where are shown salaries of teachers in sixty-one state-aided schools 
of New York in 1915. The median salary is there $1,200. All these 
men have an agricultural college training or what is approved by 
the state department of education as equivalent. A like effect 
appears in the distribution of teachers' salaries in 136 state-aided 
high schools of Minnesota in 1913-1914. The median there is 
$1,250, and salaries have been 'somewhat increased' since then. 
The same statement in regard to training holds as with the New 
York teachers. Classification by colleges in which state-aided high 
school teachers of agriculture were trained, as reported for 1915, is 
indicative of state requirements under grant of state aid. See page 
28-A. 

Salaries reported from four county agricultural schools of Wis- 
consin for 1913-1914, including salaries of directors, show a range 
from $850 to $3,000, with a median salary of $1 ,500. Because of the 
form in which figures for all these schools were given, it was possible 
to use only the four; but the median is not far from correct for all 
schools. 

For the fifty schools of the study the distribution of salaries for 
seventy-seven teachers is shown in Table 12. In the high schools 
the range is from $540 for the teacher of science and agriculture in a 
Congressional district school to $2,100 for the teacher of agriculture 
in a state-aided town high school. The median salary is $1,200. In 



Salaries 53 

the agricultural schools the range is from $840 for the instructor in 
dairying in a philanthropic school to $5,000 to the director of a 
school of the same group. All salaries above $2,000 are paid to 
directors. The median salary for this group, including salaries of 
directors or principals, is $1,600; for directors, $2,700; for other 
teachers, $1,500. The figures in the table include estimates for 
board or rent when such make a part of the compensation. Teachers 
in the special schools again appear somewhat better paid than those 
in the high schools. 



ENROLMENT 

A tabulation of the enrolment in agriculture in 462 high schools 
of Iowa shows a median enrolment of twenty pupils. The same 
median appears in the enrolment for forty-four state-aided high 
schools of New York. For the schools of the study the range in 
Group A is from ten to 143 pupils, the larger numbers appearing in 
the Congressional district and county schools where every boy 
takes agriculture, and, in one case, every girl, also. The median 
stands at twenty-one. In Group B the range is from forty-one in a 
philanthropic school to 597 in a state school. The median is 105. 

As might be expected in the special schools where attendance im- 
plies the intention to study agriculture, the enrolment is larger than 
in the high schools where various courses are open. In only one 
school of Group B can a student gain his diploma without taking 
agriculture. That school shows the smallest enrolment in that 
course of any in the group. 

A trend to the selection of farm lads is probably indicated in 
Table 13. This is, no doubt, in part due to location, though even 
one city high school shows over ninety per cent, farm boys in agri- 
culture. On the other hand, it may be noted that three city high 
schools are dealing with city boys, whereas the Congressional dis- 
trict schools in the open country in states where cities are few, deal 
with country lads. The two philanthropic schools in column i 
were founded for city boys, the one county agricultural school 
showing a majority of city boys is located in a suburb of a large 
city. The median proportion of country lads is about sixty-five 
per cent, in high schools, in the special schools about seventy-five 
per cent. The preparatory school with a cosmopolitan enrolment 
of 700 boys, shows a distinct selection of the country lads. 

An important pedagogical problem is indicated in the fact that 
more than half the schools are dealing with groups of boys of 
widely different life experience before entering school. In what 
respects adjustments have been made to meet this problem will be 
considered later. 



AGE OF PUPILS 

The impression gained by the visitor was that the Congressional 
district schools in Group A and the agricultural schools were dealing 
with more mature students than the run of high schools. The ages 
given in Table 14 seem to confirm the impression. The figures, 
however, are not strictly accurate, more than half the returns being 
obvious estimates by teacher or principal. Three factors enter to 
account for the greater maturity of students in these schools: (i) 
The higher age requirements for entrance; (2) the fact that all but 
two of the schools are 'away-from-home schools', to which imma- 
ture students are less likely to be entrusted; (3) the greater diversi- 
fication in agricultural work that attracts students who have been 
at work for some time already. Men of twenty-five or more were 
not infrequently in the classes of such schools. 

Upon this greater maturity several principals have based the 
use of the lecture method and the close approximation to college 
procedure that distinguish the schools as a group from the high 
schools. 



ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 

Entrance requirements to courses or departments in agriculture 
are commonly identical with those for other courses offered in the 
school. However, in the state-aided vocational departments of 
high schools in Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachu- 
setts, provision is made for the entrance to work in agriculture of 
those who do not seek a high school diploma on an age basis of 
fourteen years. Fifteen schools in Group A, all of them state-aided, 
have this provision. Eleven of them show the admission of students 
with the approval of the principal on the age basis. The number so 
admitted is, however, small. In the Congressional district schools 
students are in practice admitted who have not met the established 
requirements. With the approval of the principal, students of high 
school age, considered capable of carrying the school work have 
been admitted on trial. 

In one country agricultural school and the three philanthropic 
schools, students are admitted on the age basis alone. In the 
philanthropic schools-, age is the basic requirement. In one, 'four- 
teen years and the desire to take the course', is all that is necessary; 
in the others, 'eighteen years and the physique for farm labor, with 
ability to read and write'. In the latter two, selection of candidates 
is made by the principal through personal interview. In the state 
schools, two require an age of sixteen years in addition to the com- 
pletion of Grade VIII or a preparation approved as equivalent, one, 
an age of seventeen years and not less than six months' farm experi- 
ence besides the completion of Grade VIII. In three county agri- 
cultural schools, fourteen years and the approved equivalent of 
Grade VIII completion is necessary. 

In general, the completion of elementary school work in the par- 
ticular state wherein the school is located determines entrance, the 
fact of completion being determined sometimes by certificate, some- 
times by examination. Thus, thirty-one schools of the high school 
group base admission to agricultural courses on Grade VIII com- 
pletion, and seven of the schools of Group B do the same. Require- 
ments for School C are already given. Grade VIII completion 
probably represents admission standards for the great majority of 
schools in the country. Grade VII being standard in the South. 



UNITS OF AGRICULTURE OFFERED IN 
HIGH SCHOOLS 

In schools of the high school type, offerings in agriculture have 
been reduced approximately to the common high school unit, for 
exhibition: i.e., five forty-minute periods per week through the 
academic year, a double period of laboratory or shop work counting 
as one period for credit. The seven and one-half Regents credits for 
agriculture in New York thus are one and one-half units per year, or 
six units for the course. The fifteen periods a week for agriculture 
in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania count for eight units in the four- 
year course. Table 15 shows the distribution of schools in Group A 
under this unit classification. 

The distribution of the same schools under state aid for courses 
in agriculture, state maintenance of school irrespective of agriculture, 
and without aid from the state, appears in Table 2. 

The effect of state aid in increasing the number of units offered 
is evident from Table 16. The median offering for the sixteen 
schools in which no special aid is given for agriculture is 4; for 
schools to which such special aid is granted, 6. 

Additional figures suggest a like effect. 

In Iowa, 492 high schools, unaided, show the following distribu- 
tion of units, with a median offering of one unit: 



y2 243 

H '3 

I 212 

iK 6 

2 19 
2K I 

3 3 

4 5 

In Illinois, of seventy schools, unaided, carrying agriculture, ten 
carry two units or more. 

In Vermont, slightly aided schools, nine offer four units, four 
offer two units. 



5 8 Organization and Method in A gricuUure in Secondary Schools 

In New Hampshire, unaided schools, one offers six units, twenty- 
two offer four units, two offer two units. 

In Michigan, unaided schools, fifty have installed a four-unit 
course. 

In Minnesota, 176 state-aided schools have met the state require- 
ments calling for a four-unit course, though the actual offering is 
sometimes less. 

In New York, sixty-one state-aided high schools are offering six 
units, and three state-aided intermediate schools devote the same 
time to a like course. 

In Pennsylvania, twenty-three, and in Massachusetts eleven high 
schools are receiving aid for an eight-unit course. 

For the agricultural schools with their more specialized courses, 
greater diversification of agricultural subject matter, less uniform 
length of year, and of courses, no attempt at evaluation in terms of 
the high school unit has been made. The total offerings, however, 
are normally higher than in the high schools. 

The greater uniformity in length of year and course in the high 
school group is shown in Table 17. Apparently, state aid has no 
effect to lengthen the course, except as the summer projects be in- 
cluded, as will be noted later. Normal length of year is thirty-six 
weeks; of course, four years. In the agricultural schools variation 
in length of course and year is marked, the range being from one 
year to four, from twenty-four weeks to twelve months. 

The presence of boarding pupils, though it presents a problem in 
the matter of maintenance of projects, has no effect on length of 
course. It is noteworthy, however, that the only schools to main- 
tain a school year of twelve months are boarding schools. 



THE COURSE OF STUDY— THE ACADEMIC SUBJECTS 

In the following brief discussion of those subjects in the curric- 
ulum which are not recognized, usually, as agricultural, there are in- 
cluded in the compilation several which are normally elective. In 
such cases the basis for inclusion is the fact that they are those taken 
by a majority of students in agriculture or are regularly recom- 
mended for such students by principals or directors. In three 
schools, where long lists of electives were provided, the data were 
not sufficiently clear to be included, and only those subjects that 
were required of students in agriculture enter in the tables. 

English 

Of all subjects in the course of study, English is the most uni- 
formly required. Every school of the fifty offered English ; only one, 
a philanthropic school, failed to require it. In the units offered as 
well as in the content, the schools of Group B show some diversity; 
in the other schools uniformity is notable. 

Thirty-six of the thirty-nine high schools offer four years of 
English, the other three offer three years. Thirty schools offer four 
full units; four, three units; four, two and one-half units; one, two 
units. Two of the four-unit schools make the subject elective in the 
last year. In all others the full offering is required. 

In content, the subject is usually college entrance English, con- 
sisting of composition under the heads of Narration, Description, 
Exposition and Argument, and the shredding of literary master- 
pieces chosen from the list in college entrance requirements or the 
state manual. In the first year, or first two years, part of the time 
may be given to English grammar, as is notably the case in the 
Southern county and Congressional district schools, and the one 
junior high school. 

No case of differentiation of English to meet special needs of 
agricultural students is recorded among the high schools unless the 
use of the Silver Burdette Farm Readers in the Congressional dis- 
trict schools be noted as such. 

The smaller number of units noted for the agricultural schools is 
due mainly to the shorter courses and shorter years in those schools. 



6o Organization and Method in A gricuUure in Secondary Schools 

High school 'standards' regulate the .content for the most part. 
Only for short-course students in two country agricultural schools, 
and for all students in the philanthropic schools is special English 
given. The course then becomes 'Business English' or 'Voca- 
tional English' and deals with the writing of business letters, the 
summarizing of texts, articles or bulletins on agricultural subjects, 
and the reading of country life literature, or of masterpieces for the 
interest that is in them. In one case the course is designated 'Con- 
ference English', and is supposed to help students in the organiza- 
tion of their notes and readings in other classes. Mr. Perry of the 
Milwaukee County Agricultural School has organized his work in 
this wise : 

Conversation and Reading, Correspondence and Composition, 
Current Literature of Farm and Home, Organization and De- 
bating, a term being given to each topic. 

Reading 

Reading of the regular grade selection is given in the first two 
years of the junior high school, and in the first year of one state- 
aided high school of New York. 

Spelling and Writing 

Penmanship is required for two periods a week in the third year 
of one county high school, and for the first year of one Congressional 
district school, after which the same time is given to spelling in the 
following two years. Two other such schools give one period to 
writing and spelling through two and three years respectively. One 
New York school requires a period during the first year, and in the 
junior high school it continues through the full course. 

Mathematics — Arithmetic 

Arithmetic, usually a review of processes, is ofifered in thirteen 
schools of Group A and seven of Group B. In only four cases in 
each group is it differentiated to meet the needs of agricultural 
students, when it becomes 'Farm Arithmetic', usually an attempt 
to teach agriculture through arithmetic, rather than to teach arith- 
metic through the farm experiences of the pupil. The work, how- 
ever, may be more or less concrete and applicable. The notable 
exception is the junior high school, where the work is carried on 
through the first year without an assigned text-book. In project 



The Course of Study — the Academic Subjects 6i 

schools a good deal of concrete arithmetic enters into the work even 
though no definite course be given. The same can be said of courses 
in feeding and fertilizers. 

Algebra 

Algebra to quadratic equations is the rule in the high schools, 
thirty-six of the thirty-nine requiring the subject, and two offering 
advanced or review work in the subject. In the county agricultural 
schools it appears as a factor in receiving high school credit, in the 
philanthropic school a brief dose is given as tonic to the mind. 

Geometry 

A like statement is applicable to geometry. In the solid form 
it is included with Review Mathematics. Strangely enough, an agri- 
cultural student in the preparatory school may escape it, though 
his chances are not great, because of the pressure of college prep- 
aration. 

Surveying 

Surveying is offered in six schools, all of which have farms and 
carry on actual practice in land measurements. In two cases level- 
ing and the laying of drains in an actual project was reported. A 
brief treatment of farm surveying is frequent in farm management 
courses. 

History and Civics 

United States history and government is as regularly a required 
subject as algebra or geometry. It is regarded as of peculiar value 
as a preparation for citizenship. At the same time it would appear 
that only those boys who survive the first three years of the high 
school are thought worthy of this particular training. Only six 
times is the work offered earlier than the fourth year of the course. 
In the special schools where the course is of two years only, it 
becomes necessary to give the subject in the second year. 

United States history and civics may be given as separate sub- 
jects. The United States history thus given appears to be the 
regular eighth grade history, in schools where Grade VIII is in- 
cluded. Civics as a separate subject appears more frequently in 
the special schools than in the high school group and is sometimes 
differentiated from the ordinary study of national, state and local 
government. In one case it is studied in connection with sanitation, 



62 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

in another designated as 'Community Civics', in another as 
'Community and Citizen'. In one philanthropic school for Jewish 
boys, civics, like English, is elective, and is seldom elected. In 
another, civics is a part of the farm management. 

Ancient, English and general history form a part of the work of 
agricultural students in many of the high schools, English history 
being most frequent. State history is required of students in the 
Georgia Congressional district schools, and in the county high 
school of Maryland. Industrial history and the history of agricul- 
ture appear in only three schools, one county high school and two 
county agricultural schools. The history of his vocation is consid- 
ered of less importance to the student than that of the wars of 
foreign peoples. 

Fine Arts and Music 

Fine Arts is required of agricultural students for two periods a 
week in one New England academy, for cultural purposes. Music, 
which is worthy of serious attention on the part of one who plans 
a course in preparation for the life of a farmer, is given to students 
in two county agricultural schools throughout the course, in one 
case one period a week, in the other, three periods. One county 
high school teaches a class one period a week for two years, a town 
high school two periods a week for the first year. The allotment of 
time to music does not seem extravagant in schools which incor- 
porate in their requirements, algebra and Latin. 

Foreign Languages 

The tendency to the omission of foreign languages from the 
course for agricultural students is interesting. Latin is given them 
regularly in only five schools, French in four, and German in eight. 
The schools in which French is taught are in New England, all of 
them in New Hampshire, where the French Canadian population 
is large. Five of the schools that teach German are in the Middle 
West, in communities where people of German origin are many. 
The most notable point "in regard to foreign languages is the com- 
plete omission in the special schools. 

Geography 

Geography of the eighth grade is taught in two schools. Com- 
mercial geography, in which the correlation with the productive 



The Course of Study — the Academic Subjects 63 

side of agriculture is marked, is taught in one high school. Physical 
geography and 'Geology of the Farm' go together in one county 
agricultural school. 

Bible 

Bible study is required of all students in one New England 
academy, and in the preparatory school, both of which were 
founded under church auspices. It is elective in one philanthropic 
school, but is seldom elected. 

Gymnasium 

Required gymnastics throughout the course appears in two 
schools only, one a state school, where actual farm work is at a 
minimum. Directors in the special schools hold that farm work 
does away with the necessity for gymnastic exercise. In the high 
schools athletic games were usual, sometimes with a special coach, 
and several had well equipped gymnasiums, but physical exercise 
did not appear as a requirement. 

The Sciences 

In the study of the production of plants and animals, the princi- 
ples of science must be applied to control of the race through 
heredity, of the individual through nurture. There are three views 
commonly expressed with regard then to the place of the sciences in 
the course of study for students of agriculture. One: That the func- 
tion of the science courses is to furnish a background in classroom, 
laboratory, and field experience, for the technology of agriculture. 
Two: That the sciences should furnish an organized structure of 
correlated natural laws that shall be clothed and filled in through 
the concrete applications involved in the later or concurrent study 
of agriculture. Three: That the concrete applications of science 
in agriculture shall be an inductive means to the discovery of the 
laws of nature, which shall later or concurrently be unified in the 
study of pure science. In other words, the first two views look upon 
science as preparatory to agricultural subjects, the third looks upon 
agriculture as preparatory to science. These views were expressed 
by some eight or ten principals and state officers, as guiding in the 
organization of the curriculum. The one set would indicate the 
placing of science early in the course, the other late. But that such 
views do actually dominate in the run of courses is doubtful, for if 



64 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

such is the case the maker of the course ordinarily holds both views. 
That is, in the same course, commonly, botany is given in the first 
year, chemistry in the last. But that certain sciences are predomi- 
nantly looked upon as preparatory, may be judged from the fol- 
lowing synopsis: 

General Science 

One course that is undoubtedly given its place for the sake of its 
'background' value is General Science, that much quarreled over 
hodge-podge of biological, chemical, and physical instances. It 
finds its place, however, in relatively few schools, only seven of the 
fifty. In every case it is given in the first year, either as a whole or 
a half unit. As a half unit, it is in one case, preceded by a half unit 
of elementary agriculture, in the others, it is the first study of science. 

Geology 

Geology is a rare offering, appearing in but three schools. In one 
high school it appears only with astronomy as an informational 
subject; in the county agricultural schools it is regarded as an 
adjunct to soils work, as it well may be. Some study of geology is 
regularly made in soils courses. 

Botany and Zoology 

Botany, usually as a half unit preceding zoology, appears nor- 
mally in the first year of the course, and rarely in the second or 
third year. It is a common requirement appearing in twenty-six 
of the high schools and ten of the eleven schools in the other groups. 
In three schools of Group A and three of Group B it is differentiated 
as 'Agricultural Botany' or 'Farm Plant Life', in which case the 
differentiation consists mainly in the selection of plants of economic 
value, and a greater emphasis on physiology, than in the usual 
structural botany of the high school texts. How crops grow is of 
more importance to the farmer than the structural variations that 
they exhibit. How they feed is more important than the arrange- 
ment of leaves upon the stem or the presence or absence of petals 
in the flower. These facts seem to be recognized in the adapted 
courses. But such courses, as the regular ones, are held to be 
preparatory. 

Zoology, in its distribution, is like botany, though a less frequent 
offering. In only two cases was adaptation definitely made for 



The Course of Study — the Academic Subjects 65 

agricultural students. Its inclusion in two more special schools as 
'Zoology of the Farm' brings the total for those schools to three 
as against nine for botany. But the adapted courses seemed so 
closely to resemble those in economic entomology that they have 
been listed under that heading. 

Physiology and Hygiene 

Physiology and hygiene of the usual text-book type was found 
in seven schools. It is equally common in the first and second years 
and varies from a full unit to one-fourth unit or less. The content 
seemed to be that of the usual eighth-grade text. It was the visi- 
tor's privilege to listen to three recitations and one sermon on the 
evils of drink. 

Sanitation 

Sanitation as a separate division appears in the Southern schools 
and in two of the special schools. In three schools boys had con- 
structed concrete septic tanks, though in one such case, no course 
in sanitation was offered. In the seven cases where it was offered 
it seemed rather direct in its application to the farm home, even 
when given as 'Civic Biology'. 

Physics and Chemistry 

Physics and chemistry are commonly offered as a single unit each 
in the third and fourth years respectively of the high school course. 
In the smaller schools the usual practice, where both subjects are 
offered, is to give them in alternate years, combining the work of 
junior and senior classes. The sequence shown then, is not strictly 
representative. It is based upon the printed courses of study, or 
in the absence of such, upon the actual succession in use at the time 
of visit. Physics is somewhat more common in the high schools 
than chemistry, appearing thirty-seven times as against thirty for 
chemistry. In the special schools, physics appears six times as 
against nine for chemistry. The preparatory view in the special 
schools is indicated by the earlier appearance in the course, physics 
appearing four times in the first year, chemistry six. Differentia- 
tion into Agricultural Chemistry or Agricultural Physics is rare in 
both groups. In some cases the work was said to be given an 
'agricultural bias*. It will be noted that both sciences are among 
those most frequently in charge of the teacher in agriculture. But 



66 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

the 'bias' in classes visited was imperceptible. The usual state- 
ment was that 'the entrance requirements forbid differentiation 
for agricultural students'. 

No record of texts used was kept for subjects other than agricul- 
ture, but Millikan and Gale's text, with the accompanying manual, 
or some outline like the "Forty Harvard Experiments" was in 
common use in physics. In chemistry, the usual inorganic chemistry, 
based on Newell or a like text, was the rule. In cases where agri- 
cultural chemistry was offered, Kahlenberg and Hart or Snyder's 
"Chemistry of Plant and Animal Life" determined the content. 
In agricultural physics. King's "Physics of Agriculture" was twice 
used. In one case the course could hardly be distinguished from 
that in agricultural engineering. Just what is meant by agricul- 
tural chemistry, physics or botany seems not yet to be certain in 
secondary schools. 

One specially ambitious development of chemistry, from a special 
school, may be of interest. Elementary chemistry, two terms, 
elementary agricultural chemistry, one term, elementary organic 
chemistry, one term, advanced agricultural chemistry, two terms. 
It is noteworthy, however, that laboratory work was at a discount 
in this course. The instructor expressed a doubt as to the value of 
such work, except as it were confined to illustrative demonstration 
in the classroom, in immediate conjunction with classroom recita- 
tion or lecture. This man had taught boys in the subject for more 
than twenty years, and had taken his doctor's degree in the sub- 
ject from one of the German universities. If laboratory work be 
as remote from the content of instruction as is usual under the 
manual and outline method, no doubt there is some virtue in his 
contention. 

Book-keeping 

Book-keeping, usually in the second year, and as a half unit, 
appears as a separate subject in nine high schools and five special 
schools. Seven times in the high schools, and in every instance in 
the special schools, it is adapted more or less closely to farm condi- 
tions as 'Farm Accounts' or 'Vocational Accounts'. In schools 
where farm management is taught it sometimes becomes the major 
work in that subject. In schools where home projects are a part of 
the agricultural course an accounting of productive projects is 
invariable. Thus, in a majority of the schools visited, boys become 
acquainted through practice with simple accounting. 



The Course of Study — the Academic Subjects 67 

Agriculture for Girls 

Girls study agriculture in seven of the schools, six high schools 
and one special school. In one county school a first year unit is 
required of them, in one Congressional district school three and 
one-half units. A text-book in general agriculture and stereotyped 
recitation is the type. In three cases, however, the material is 
selected with a view to the supposed requirements of the home- 
keeper. Vegetable gardening, home fruits, poultry management, 
floriculture, and the care of home grounds, make up the work, 
which is given to a separate class, away from the boys. In one 
case, only, was there any noticeable amount of practical work. 
In that case every girl carried a project. The class visited homes, 
conservatories, fairs, poultry yards and orchards, designed schemes 
of ornamentation, selected varieties of fruits and vegetables, in 
fact, gave most of the double class periods in spring and fall to out- 
door work. Yet the teacher reported the work unsatisfactory, and 
rejoiced in the prospect of a cooking and sewing class that should 
remove the girls from his jurisdiction. They did not care for the 
practical work, he said, and were at their best in text recitation. 

Cookery for Boys 

An interesting special selection is that of camp cookery or plain 
cooking for boys, during a term in each of two Wisconsin county 
agricultural schools. The necessity for preparing his own meals at 
times is almost inevitable in the life of a farmer. If anywhere 
selection of subject matter as usable knowledge appears, it is here. 
A brief course can hardly be out of place in any school that pre- 
pares for country living. In another school the boys had formed a 
cooking club. 

Drawing 

Drawing as a special division of the work of students in agricul- 
ture appears in sixteen schools, ten in Group A, and six in Group 
B. The arrangement of time for drawing is very varied, ranging 
from ten periods a week for a term to a double period a week 
throughout the four years. In eight cases drawing is continued 
through two or more years of the course, in six cases it is a part of 
the first year's work. Freehand, geometrical, mechanical drawing 
are the common designations. One sequence runs thus, freehand 
drawing, geometrical drawing, mechanical drawing, building plans. 



68 Organization and Method in A gricuUure in Secondary Schools 

In only one case does drawing seem to be given for the sake of 
drawing. Correlation with shop work is more or less close, more 
markedly so in the agricultural schools than in the high schools. 
Drawing, where not a special course, is regularly given with the 
shop work, in some cases the very first drawing being the attempt 
at working drawings for shop projects. Indeed, in two cases the 
shop course seemed virtually a course in the construction and 
reading of working drawings rather than in the use of tools. Said 
one teacher, "I emphasize the drawing and mathematical side. 
The boys can't be made workmen here." In poultry, animal hus- 
bandry, and farm management, some drawing is often given in 
connection with building and farm plans. 



AGRICULTURAL SUBJECTS 

Elementary or General Agriculture. Table i8 

In all schools where but a single unit or half unit of recognized 
Agriculture was given, the subject is a text-book survey of the 
productive fields of agronomy and animal husbandry. Outdoor 
and laboratory work play but a small part. The aim is 'prevoca- 
tional' if any. Warren's "Elements of Agriculture" and Mann's 
"Beginnings in Agriculture," among the books that give at best 
but a sketchy and inadequate treatment to the productive activity 
of farm life, are favorite texts. But in four-year courses in which 
the work becomes more intensive and diversified, the introductory 
course is still sometimes identical with that above. Even in the 
agricultural schools in which the particular divisions of the economic 
subjects prevalent in the agricultural colleges have been handed 
down from above, the same subject appears four times. The purpose 
here is the giving of 'back-ground', 'viewpoint', or 'conception of 
the whole', in order that the subsequent divisions may be seen in 
their proper relations to one another. Even in project schools, 
where the elementary survey is not countenanced by central 
authority, principals report that they have felt it necessary to 
retain it in order that the specific instances of production may not 
remain isolated in the minds of pupils, and that the science of 
production from the soil may have a comprehensive unity. The 
arguments are plausible, at least, though they seem to presuppose 
the necessity for deductive treatment. In practice the subject is 
perhaps the most academic, the experience involved the most 
uniformly vicarious, to be found in the whole range of the productive 
topics. If a student is to gain his point of view, his sense of unity, 
his apperceptive basis for more specialized work, in a series of 
lessons remote from the realities of participation, then the first- 
year survey is justified. On the other hand, if, inductively, through 
the correlation of specific typical experiences, the unity and inter- 
relation of scientific principles is to be attained, then the unifying 
survey, made meaningful by previous experience, would seem to 
belong at the end, rather than at the beginning of the course. Such 



70 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

a survey is made frequently in the more or less academic work of 
Farm Management in the fourth year. 

But several principals have advanced the argument for general 
agriculture in the first year, that it is a provision for the student 
who does not go on to graduation. If he is to leave school with that 
most important bequest, the proper viewpoint, then it must be 
given him at once. The question, then, becomes one as to whether 
the course given does create the viewpoint. In the mind of the 
writer it is very doubtful that it does so. The question as to the 
relative values of the academic survey and of the particular selected 
experiences of students, even in a narrow field, if only the one or 
the other can be given, remains open. Only results as determined 
in the future life of students, if by any means we shall ever succeed 
in eliminating factors educational outside of the school, can settle 
it. Such results are nowhere available for study. 

The Common Divisions of Agriculture in the 
Four-Year High School Course 

From examination of proposed four-year courses of study put 
forward by state educational authorities or agricultural college 
professors, in seventeen states, the figures of Table 19 are put 
together. The nine divisions of subject matter there listed do not 
allow of any sure generalizations, but combined with results in the 
following analysis may be, perhaps, resolved into a sequence like 
this as a type: 



Year I 


Year II 


Year III 


Year IV 


Soils 

Vegetable Gardening 


Farm Crops 
Fruit Growing 


Animal Husbandry 

Dairying 

Poultry 


Farm Management 
Farm Mechanics 



That the suggested outlines dominate the organization actually 
in the schools is not absolutely proved, though the indications are 
strong that they do so. Under the control given central authorities 
by the awarding of state aid such dominance is marked. In the 
state supported high schools, as in Alabama, it is absolute, and 
deviation to meet special seasonal, or pedagogical needs is difficult. 
Elasticity is not a marked feature. 



Agricultural Subjects 71 

Agronomy. Table 20 

The relations of soils and crops as a first- or second-year subject 
in the high schools appears fourteen times, and twice in the agri- 
cultural schools. The name is an inclusive one, the material studied 
being largely that in the courses specified Soils, or Soil Management, 
and Farm Crops or Field Crops. That the word has not yet acquired 
a definite meaning seems to be the case. Agronomy and Soils occur 
in the same course, and Agronomy and Farm Crops in the same 
course. In the one case Agronomy is the study of crops, in the 
other the study of soils. The more specific title Soils and Crops is 
preferable as carrying meaning to ordinary ears, and indicating 
even to teachers, the nature of the course. The designation of Soils 
twenty-two times as a separate topic and of Farm Crops twenty-one 
times, is a move toward classification. As the monstrous Zootechny 
has been superseded by the plain English Animal Husbandry, so 
may the Greek give way to the English in this case without loss of 
dignity. 

Soils. Table 20 

Under the term Soils the matters of origins, physics, tillage, 
drainage, irrigation, and manuring, are commonly studied. All 
these topics, save irrigation, appear as special subjects in agricultural 
schools. Drainage is occasionally taught under agricultural engi- 
neering or farm management. As Soils is handed down from the 
colleges, it is, in many of its phases, one of the most technical and 
abstract of agricultural subjects. The effect of college presentation 
is evident in much of the school work, wherein teachers are attempt- 
ing to give to students void of science training, that which in college 
is of more than ordinary technological difificulty. In colleges, 
chemistry is looked upon as a prerequisite to the study of soils, but, 
as has been noted, such preparation is not provided for in these 
schools. A few schools, in recognition of the 'needs of the subject' 
have placed Soils in the last year of the course rather than the first. 
Two or three have done so primarily for pedagogical reasons that 
will be noted later on. 

It is fair to say that there is in several cases a definite attempt at 
selection for first-year students. Fortunately, this selection tends 
to the emphasis of the physical aspects that are, after all, controlling. 

Taking all schools together Soils is normally a half-unit course, 
though in the high schools the full unit is more common. The 



72 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

differentiation of the subject, particularly in the separate treatment 
of manuring, drainage, etc., probably accounts for the apparently 
lighter emphasis in the special schools. The shorter course is a 
factor also. Organization according to season is not marked, or 
need it be in case of Soils, provided the course carries over a term 
of open weather in which outdoor work may be done. 

Farm Crops. Table i8 

Season is an important matter in any adequate study of the crops 
of the farm. To study crops in the field outdoors is far better 
than to study them only in book and laboratory. In recognition 
of the value of seasonal adjustment Farm Crops as a half unit is 
generally given in the fall. As a whole unit it runs through the 
year or begins in the spring and is taken up again in the fall. Thus 
a study of the plant at seed-time and at harvest becomes possible. 

Farm Crops appears an equal number of times as a first year and 
as a second year subject. Under the plan of alternation it may 
share with Soils as the common introductory subject of the agri- 
cultural course. 

The term Farm Crops is inclusive. It may be made to cover all 
plant control through agriculture, and it does, in some cases, include 
vegetable gardening, and even the woodlot. But, commonly, the 
orchard and small fruit crops and the woodlot are given separate 
treatment. The usual content is a study of the cereals, grasses, 
legumes, and root and fiber crops. Selection in view of local con- 
ditions is not as usual as it should be, but is fairly common. The 
Northern school boy usually studies cotton, though he does not 
give much time to it, the New Englander may study wheat, and 
the Alabamian, oats at some length. But selection is more or less 
defined in many cases. 

No figures were obtained on the visits to show the amount of 
time given to various topics in 'agronomy', but inquiry as to the 
time given to corn, where answers were definite, showed a wide 
variation. The results of an inquiry by Professor Lusk among 
schools of the single state of Minnesota show a surprising range of 
variation. (See Table 21.) To corn was devoted from one to thirty 
weeks, with a median allotment of eight weeks, to small grains from 
one to sixteen weeks with a median of eight weeks, to legumes 
from one to twelve weeks with a median of four weeks, to root and 
fiber crops from one to seven weeks with a median of two weeks, 



Agricultural Subjects 73 

to weeds from one to sixteen weeks, median three weeks, to grasses 
one to eighteen weeks, median three weeks, to soils and rotations 
one to twenty-eight weeks, median four weeks. For corn, the 
highest figure given in answer to the question by the writer was 
twenty-two weeks, the lowest four weeks. That standardization 
of time allotment is desirable is open to question, but that such 
extremes of variation can be justified by ordinary local specializa- 
tion, is doubtful. 

Horticulture. See Table 18 

Horticulture is an inclusive term for the study of certain rather 
arbitrarily selected crops of the farm, usually grown under a rather 
more intensive culture and on smaller areas than the staple crops. 
Apples, which are a staple crop, often grown on large areas, and 
by no means intensive methods, are, by common consent and 
tradition included among the crops of the garden. Sugar beets 
and 'mangels' are studied under Farm Crops, table beets under 
Horticulture, potatoes either under Farm Crops or Horticulture, dent 
and flint corns under farm crops, sweet corn and beans under either 
caption or both. Though the degree of intensity of cultivation 
largely governs selection, the line between Farm Crops and Horti- 
culture is not determinate. In general, two groups of crops are 
treated under Horticulture, the vegetables, and the fruits. As an 
undifferentiated subject this general Horticulture is given as a half 
unit or less in fifteen schools, most commonly in the spring, but in 
six cases running through the school year. 

Vegetable Gardening and Fruit Culture. Table 22 

More common, however, than the inclusive caption is the division 
of the intensive crops into Vegetable Gardening and Fruit Growing, 
frequently designated Pomology. Under the derived name such 
small fruits as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc., grouped 
as small fruits and bush fruits have no place, but they are treated 
sometimes with Vegetable Gardening, more frequently with Fruit 
Growing. Vegetable Gardening is commonly a first or second year 
subject making half a unit of work. Seasonal adaptation, as is 
fitting, is marked, the spring being the time chosen. 

Fruit Growing commonly emphasizes the orchard fruits, notably 
the apple. The favorite year is the third, the favorite allowance one- 
half unit, and the favorite season autumn, when varieties can be 



74 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

studied. Occasionally, as with Horticulture and Farm Crops, the 
cycle of growth is followed by making the beginning of the work in 
the spring, the end in the fall. 

Further splitting up of Horticulture is common in the agricultural 
schools as in the colleges. 

The study of individual crops follows a fairly uniform plan, the 
treatment of topics running something as follows : Botanical nature 
of the crop, soil and climatic adaptations, varieties, methods of 
propagation, culture, enemies, harvesting, storage, and marketing. 
Emphasis is varied, but in general the control factors dominate. 
It is, perhaps, fair to say, that with the exception of fruits, the 
marketing side is slighted. 

Animal Husbandry and Dairying. Table 23 

The two subjects of Animal Husbandry and Dairying commonly 
go together, Animal Husbandry being the inclusive term. Where 
it is given alone a variable treatment of dairying is made, and the 
work includes a brief study of Poultry. When the two are separated 
the Animal Husbandry usually treats of the types and breeds of 
farm animals; with the care and feeding of each, and a variable 
amount, usually small, of stock judging. The treatment of breeding 
is necessarily brief, if it be heeded at all. When the two are given 
separately a considerable emphasis is given to the study of milk 
and its products. For instance, Wing's "Milk and Its Products" is 
a more frequent guide in dairying than Eckle's "Dairy Cattle" 
or other books on dairy farming. In such cases the breeds, feeding, 
and management of dairy cattle are likely to be taken up in the 
Animal Husbandry course. 

Poultry. Table 23 

The types and breeds of poultry, their adaptations, housing, 
care and feeding, hatching, rearing, breeding, and marketing, 
constitute a separate division of Animal Husbandry in fifteen high 
schools and seven of the agricultural schools. Practical work is 
more frequent here than in any course, barring shop work, except 
Vegetable Gardening, with which it shares as the introductory 
work of the project schools. The frequency of its appearance in 
the first year is attributable to the New York outline, but by alter- 
nation it becomes frequently a second year subject. It is interesting 
to note that Poultry has been chosen as the introductory topic, in 



Agricultural Subjects 75 

this way, whereas, in general, Animal Husbandry goes into the second 
or third year, and Dairying into the third year. Discussion will be 
given to the adaptation further on. See Discussion of General 
Applications. 

Still further division of Animal Husbandry is noted in the agri- 
cultural schools. 

Reference again to the data of Professor Lusk shows a lack of 
uniformity in time devoted to the topics of the general Animal 
Husbandry course. As in the Agronomy it is to be doubted that 
local specialization in a single state will justify so great a range in 
intensity of treatment. The distribution is interesting in view of 
the objection to the Stimson plan of projects as tending to too 
great specialization. The work in Minnesota is not under the 
Stimson plan. To that we shall advert in the discussion of the 
project method. 

The time devoted to study of the horse ranges from one to eighteen 
weeks, with a median of five weeks; of dairy cattle, particularly 
important in Minnesota, from two to twenty-four weeks, with a 
median of four weeks; of dairy products and management from 
one to twenty-four weeks, with a median of four weeks; of beef 
cattle from one to nine weeks, median four weeks; hogs one to 
eight weeks, median four weeks; of sheep one to eighteen weeks, 
median three weeks, of poultry one to sixteen weeks, median three 
weeks; of feeding one to eighteen weeks, median four weeks. A 
normal course of thirty-six weeks would thus give to horses five 
weeks, to dairy farming eight to ten weeks, to beef cattle four 
weeks, to hogs three to four weeks, to sheep two to four weeks, to 
poultry two to four weeks, to feeding four to five weeks. Such an 
arrangement is not far from that called for by the ordinary text- 
book. 

Farm Management and Rural Economics. Table 24 

Evaluated in terms of thought content, the course in Farm Man- 
agement ordinarily stands first among the productive agricultural 
subjects. Its problems, though for the most part vicarious and 
lacking in immediate motive, most frequently call for the arraying, 
selection, synthesis and application of facts and principles already 
more or less familiar to the student. It serves to correlate and 
organize the various factors in production, and to give that unity, 
the seeking of which is the excuse for the interpolation of elementary 



76 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

General Agriculture. Most of all, it serves to the fixation of the 
economic point of view, whereby science becomes a means rather 
than an end. The interrelations of land, capital, and labor, not in 
general, but in more or less concrete instances, form the subject 
matter. Thus the place of Farm Management is in the last year of 
the course. 

When it is placed earlier, it tends to degenerate into an informa- 
tional subject on a par with General Agriculture or to become a more 
or less systematic course in fictitious accounting. This, even in 
its proper place, it too frequently becomes, particularly in the 
agricultural schools. For the content of Farm Management is not 
yet fully determinate, as a survey of publications will reveal. Since 
the publication of Dr. Warren's book in 191 3, the tendency has 
been to erect the subject into a course, both in schools and colleges, 
that is really worth while. 

Not all the high schools, even those carrying four units or more, 
teach Farm Management, and two of the special schools omit the 
division. The common reason assigned for the omission is that: 
"We do not need it. We teach farm management all the way along 
in connection with the other subjects." But insisting upon the 
application of principles to farm practice in all subjects is not 
teaching Farm Management. Nor did it appear that in schools 
omitting the subject the concreteness and applicability of the 
various subjects was one whit more meritorious than in schools 
where the distinction exists. 

Rural or Farm Economics tends to overlap the Farm Manage- 
ment course. It is the more inclusive subject, dealing with economic 
factors in their wider aspects, and tending to greater remoteness 
than the Farm Management courses. Land, labor, capital, trans- 
portation, marketing, cooperation, accounting, all may enter. But 
they enter as factors determining the social life and institutions of 
the country rather than of the individual farm. The larger aspect 
may not be neglected in the Farm Management course, the smaller 
may be insisted upon in the Rural Economics. It is not always 
possible to tell upon entering a school room whether Farm 
Management or Rural Economics is the general subject. Some 
Farm Management teachers make use of Carver and Taylor; 
at least one teacher of Rural Economics makes Warren his 
guide. 



Agricultural Subjects 77 

Farm Mechanics and Agricultural Engineering. Table 24 
In general, divisions of subject matter under the captions: Farm 
Mechanics, Farm Machinery, and Agricultural Engineering have 
been grouped together. The caption Farm Mechanics is particu- 
larly without definition. The writer has seen fit to list certain of 
the offerings under that caption with the woodwork and forge 
work, when the material studied seemed to indicate that the 
conception of Farm Mechanics was identical with that of the shop 
courses. The making of farm conveniences such as knots, halters, 
and ties of rope, fences, gates, bridges, farm and barn plans, may 
be included in the mechanics course. More often the meat of it is 
found in the study of the physics and uses of farm machines and 
powers. One offering might well have been called 'The Gas Engine'. 
Sanitary piping and sanitary appliances are included, and as 
Agricultural Engineering, surveying and drainage. Thus the work 
may have a wide or a narrow scope as is the case with the shop 
work. Certain high schools, where shop work is offered, consider 
the special division unnecessary; among schools with farms the 
work of the farm or the shop is considered adequate to the treatment 
of the material, and in some cases it doubtless is, just as in some 
schools where no shop work, so called, appears in the agricultural 
course, the outside work calls for more of construction and repair 
than in others where the work is assigned a definite place, so, when 
the farm work is real, a more adequate knowledge of machinery 
and its uses may be obtained than in some formal courses. But 
Farm Mechanics is designated separately in eighteen high schools as 
a whole or half unit, and in nine of the special schools. It is com- 
monly placed near the end of the course, but may extend through 
two or three years in the special schools. 

Special Topics in Agriculture 
The greater specialization and topical division of the agricultural 

subjects in the agricultural schools than in the high schools is 

shown in the Tables 25, 26. 

Feeds and Feeding as a special subject appears as a half unit in 

three Congressional district schools, in seven of the ten special 

schools, and in the preparatory school. In the special schools, it 

appears in the last year of the course. 

Types and Breeds is somewhat less common in the same schools, 

usually preceding the Feeding. As one-fourth unit or less, these 



78 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

specialized topics may not represent a much more intensive treat- 
ment than is found in the high school division in Animal Hus- 
bandry. 

With the topics of Breeding and Stock Judging, the treatment is 
undoubtedly more complete than in the high schools. The posses- 
sion of live stock gives to the Stock Judging in particular, a more 
satisfactory basis than is likely to be found by even the more 
ambitious teachers of the high schools who make use of neighboring 
farms. Criticism is naturally more free, and the correlation of 
performance with the placings can be more readily followed up. 

Some study of barn sanitation, hygiene of animals, and common 
diseases, may make a part of the Animal Husbandry course. As 
Veterinary Science a special division is set off in eight agricultural 
schools, always as one-fourth unit or less. 

Swine Husbandry as one-half unit and The Horse as one-fourth 
unit appear in a state school. Meats in one state and one philan- 
thropic; Live Stock Practice, Judging and Feeding, in one county 
agricultural and one state school. Animal Management in one 
state and one philanthropic school. Dairy Manufactures in the 
same schools, and a study of the broader problems of nurture and 
heredity in a division called Domestic Plants and Animals in a 
philanthropic school. Special divisions in Poultry have already 
been noted in the description of the state school. 

Ornamental and Landscape Gardening, ordinarily slighted in 
the Horticulture course, is definitely treated in seven schools, 
usually in the spring. In two cases, it is an intensified treatment 
of a full unit's value. The two high schools in which the division 
occurs are suburban project schools. 

Forestry is a required division in the state-aided schools of 
Pennsylvania, and appears as a noteworthy adaptation to local 
needs in two New England high schools. The placing in first and 
third years is equal, the choice of spring as the season clear, the 
allowance one-half unit or less, except in the case of the academy 
previously described. 

The study of insects and diseases is in the high schools usually 
taken up along with the particular crops which they attack, but 
Insects may become a special topic in the agricultural schools. 
Plant Pathology is given as two and one-half units and one-fourth 
unit in the second year by one philanthropic and one state school. 
Weeds appears as a one-fourth unit in a county agricultural school, 



Agricultural Subjects 79 

Bacteriology as one-fourth unit in one state and two philanthropic 
schools, Sprays and Spraying in a state school. 

Greenhouse Management is given briefly in one state school and 
as a half-unit in a philanthropic school. Plant Propagation or 
Nursery Work appears in one country agricultural school and one 
philanthropic school, Small Fruits as a spring half-unit in a state 
school and as a full unit in one country agricultural school, and 
Floriculture as a whole, a half, and a quarter unit respectively, in 
one state, county, and philanthropic school. Bee-keeping is given 
in three agricultural schools, one of each sub-group, and is touched 
upon in the Animal Husbandry of at least three high schools. 

In Farm Crops, Cereals becomes a special division in one philan- 
thropic and one county agricultural school. Forage Crops in one 
Congressional district school, Root and Fiber Crops in one county 
agricultural school. 

Soil Management is diflferentiated from the general Soils course 
in one county agricultural school, Soil Physics in two. But the most 
frequent differentiation is in the case of Manures and Fertilizers. 
The division is not here restricted to one group of schools. (See 
Table 20.) The choice of spring as the proper season is, perhaps, 
worth noting, though it seems to have little or no bearing on 
method. 

Undifferentiated Political Economy of an elementary sort is given 
for a term in one of the county agricultural schools. Rural Law as a 
half-course appears in the last year of two town high schools. The 
study of rural institutions is made a half unit in the last year of 
the course in one academy and one philanthropic agricultural 
school. 

On the whole, the study of social science, particularly in its coun- 
try aspects, is very much neglected. Such work as is included in 
Farm Management in some schools is negligible. It is ordinarily 
based on the brief chapters in Warren's text. 

The omission of this study merely serves to reflect the emphasis 
upon production, which is a characteristic of the agricultural course. 
Though economic independence is largely basic to the betterment of 
country living, success in production alone will not solve the rural 
life problem. No need of the country is more marked than that for 
constructive leadership and an attitude of sympathetic cooperation 
with its undertakings in the social field. An increasing definition 
and coordination of institutional activities and collective effort 



8o Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

constitutes social progress. That such progress in church, school, 
grange, club, cooperative association is to come in the absence of 
an intelligent appreciation of the problem involved, is hardly think- 
able. Some little may be done by good teaching in respect to these 
matters to affect attitudes and sympathies among those who are pre- 
paring to be successful producers in the coming generation. Already, 
Rural Sociology has established itself as a division of social science 
sufficient in thought content and usable values to justify the incor- 
poration of its fundamentals in the course of study of any school 
that pretends to prepare for country living. No part of the course 
offers better opportunities for the development of the 'sense of 
kind'. Indeed, so commonly is social contact a felt need of country 
life, and its satisfaction a first motive to effort, that it is remarkable 
that even so isolated an institution as the school can have failed to 
seize upon and use it. When the nature of the child and his home 
rather than 'the nature of the subject' shall control, such omissions 
will be more rare. 

Shop Work. See Table 27 

Perhaps the most difficult of all subjects to classify are the divi- 
sions in Carpentry and Forging. In some schools, where no regular 
course is given, the practical value of work given in repairs and con- 
struction on the farm and about the buildings is greater than in most 
of the formal courses. This is notably true in the case of the philan- 
thropic schools and of the outside work of the Congressional district 
schools, in only one of which is the formal shop work in any wise 
adequate. Woodwork is much more common than Forge Work in 
the high schools, being definitely set off in twenty-eight of them, as 
against Forge Work in nine. Five times the work appears as un- 
differentiated formal process Manual Training for agricultural and 
other students alike. In the other cases work is very variable, as 
will be noted under Method. It is usually first-year work, but may 
be extended through the full course. In general, the agricultural 
schools with their more complete equipment have developed more 
elaborate courses in which the outcome is a considerable attainment 
of skill. That their work is more closely adapted to the farmer's 
needs, it is, perhaps, unsafe to say. Schools under the project plan 
usually teach some woodworking, whether it be a recognized course 
or not. Seven schools of Group B carry Woodwork and six Forge 
Work, the content of which is by no means uniform or determinate 



Agricultural Subjects 



8i 



in type. A sample of organization of the more complete sort is here 
given. Further discussion is reserved. 

COURSES IN SHOP WORK IN A PHILANTHROPIC SCHOOL 



Year I 


Year II 


Year III 


Fall 

Winter Farm Shop 6 

Spring Farm Shop 3 


Farm Repair Shop 6 
Farm Repair Shop 6 
Farm Repair Shop 6 


Farm Construction 4 
Farm Blacksmithing 5 
Farm Repairs 3 
Woodwork and Black- 
smithing 3 



That woodwork commonly precedes forge work, and that the type 
unit is one-half appears in the table. 

Concrete Construction appears as a definite subject in three 
county agricultural schools, in one case involving a full half unit. 
The inclusion of the work in concrete under Farm Mechanics, En- 
gineering and Shop in the project schools is quite usual. As a selec- 
tion in view of the farmer's needs it should stand not far behind 
carpentry. 

ARRANGEMENT OF TIME 

In so far as agriculture is to be taught through active participation 
of the pupil in real experiences, it makes demands for a larger allow- 
ance of time in the daily program of the school than other divisions 
of the curriculum. In that it involves undertakings that cannot be 
interrupted at the stroke of the bell, it is like cooking or forge work in 
requiring an extended period. In that many of the most useful ac- 
tivities, particularly in the high school, must be carried on, if carried 
on at all, at some distance from the schoolroom, the demand for 
freedom in time may well be even greater than in those studies. 
Recognition of the necessity for special provision in the matter of 
time seems to be growing, particularly in the state-aided project high 
schools. For instance, both the New York and the Massachusetts 
plans call for longer periods than are given the academic subjects or 
even the sciences. In the one case a double school period every day, 
in the other a triple period every day is set apart for each class in pro- 
ductive agriculture. Several such schools have set apart the half 
day, free from the demands of other teachers upon pupils, to be used 



82 Organization and Method in A griciilture in Secondary Schools 

by the teacher of agriculture unhindered. In some schools where the 
single period still prevails, the agricultural classes are scheduled for 
the end of the school day, so that the work may not be restricted 
by the necessity of getting back to school in time for the German 
lesson. 

Arrangements of time for agriculture may be noted in Table 28. 
The common length of the school period is forty minutes. Eight 
high schools, one preparatory, and two philanthropic schools, hold 
to the single period arrangement, that is probably the norm, 
if all schools of the country be considered ; five high schools provide 
four single periods a week, with one double for laboratory; seven, 
three single and two double laboratory periods, as with other science 
subjects. This last arrangement is near to those of three state and 
three county agricultural schools, which provide single periods for 
lecture or recitation, double for laboratory or outdoor work. All 
agriculture periods are double in sixteen high schools, all triple in 
three high schools and two special schools. 

Placing of all agricultural work in the forenoon is made in five 
high schools, better still, in the afternoon in ten. Such adjustment 
is not so necessary in the special schools located on farms, and may 
often be impossible because of the greater range of divisions in agri- 
culture and the generally greater proportion of time devoted to it. 

Alternation of years, so that two class-groups study together, as 
has been noted in the description of schools, is the practice of seven- 
teen high schools. In a course with one teacher, involving four or 
more units of agriculture, or requiring part time of the teacher for 
other duties, the arrangement becomes a sine qua non of success. 
Schools having two or more teachers of agriculture do not require it. 
One high school where three units only have ever been elected hires 
an assistant for the teacher of agriculture every other year, and 
maintains the printed sequence. 

Teaching six days in the week is not common even in the special 
schools with their boarding pupils. It is reported in three cases only. 



METHOD. See Tables 29-30 

General returns under Method are given for the classroom, the 
laboratory, the shop, and outdoors, and in the adoption of home and 
school projects. Such returns are based upon information from 
principals or teachers, or both, in all schools, supplemented by some 
reports from students and by observation at the time of visit. The 
particular reports of illustrative lessons were taken in long-hand by 
the visitor. 

Classroom Method 

The use of text-books was regular in some, usually in all of the 
agricultural subjects, but shop, in forty-five of the fifty schools. Five 
high schools did not use regular texts, but made the basis of recita- 
tion assignment of topic references in books or bulletins. Assign- 
ments were made to the class as a whole for recitation, and individu- 
ally to members of the class for special report. The class recitation 
as heard under the assignment method did not seem to differ in pro- 
cedure from that in the regular text classes, but the individual re- 
ports appeared to call forth a rather more full and critical discussion 
by students than in the usual case. Pupils who v»^ould not think of 
disputing the findings of a book did not hesitate to differ with con- 
clusions stated by a fellow. For reports by individuals in the class- 
room savor of the personality of the reporter, whether original or no, 
and, because of that, lack the sacred odor of infallibility of the com- 
mon text. The high school boy who will question a text is rare; the 
boy who will not question a fellow student is, perhaps, nearly as rare. 

Even when the regular text was the basis of classroom work it was 
supplemented in seventeen of the high schools by topic assignments, 
commonly in connection with projects. Under the influence of the 
project, the tendency to break away from the text-book order of 
topics was common. In that way the text might be made useful in 
preparation for practical application, or, more rarely, to answer 
questions already raised by participation of the pupil in some pro- 
ject activity. 

The greater number of teachers reported some minor departure 
from the order of the text; a few made the text subserve their own 



84 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

notions of sequence in topics. It is not unfair to say that the great 
majority served as media for the interpretation of the text, rather 
than as teachers who make the function of the text interpretation 
and supplementation of their own teachings. All too commonly the 
business of the class was to answer questions suggested to the teacher 
by the text. Only rarely were text and teacher called upon to answer 
questions arising in the experience of the pupil. In this the teaching 
of agriculture does not differ from other high-school teaching. 

Recitation 

As may be inferred from the foregoing, the question and answer 
method, by which the teacher attempts to learn whether or no the 
class has read the assignment or listened to the lecture, prevails in 
the classroom. Every school reported the use of this method. In 
forty-two schools it was the major method of procedure in the class- 
room, if not the sole method. Twenty-five schools used lectures in 
addition, only two high schools, however, making the lecture dom- 
inant. In conformity with their approximation to the college or- 
ganization, the use of the lecture was common to all special schools, 
six of the ten making it the usual, and in the view of directors and 
teachers, the more important method of classroom procedure. 

Exhibits of Question and Answer Method 

The following exhibits may serve to make more concrete the dis- 
cussion of classroom method. They do not represent extremes, but a 
gradation from rather poor teaching to fairly good teaching. As 
extremes, perhaps, two were outstandingly poor. In one, a recita- 
tion in animal husbandry, the teacher took no part, except to direct 
the method. Every boy opened his book to the assigned page. 
Then, beginning at the right, a boy stood and read aloud the first 
paragraph. When he had finished, his next neighbor rose and re- 
peated, as nearly as he could remember, what had been read. And 
so on through the period. Not a question was raised, except as to 
pronunciation of words, and the class was too drowsy to give much 
heed to slips. 

In another case the activity was all on the other side. Noticing an 
extraordinary rapidity of fire on the part of the teacher, the visitor 
laid out his watch to check off the number of questions. At point 
blank they numbered 130 in twenty-five minutes. The speed was 
maintained successfully by the teacher through giving the answers 



Method 85 

himself. In only three cases did a pupil interject the necessary word 
before the teacher could utter it. 

At the other end stands a discussion of projects by a class, each 
of whom had chosen and made preparation for an undertaking at 
home. He had noted difificulties and brought them to the class for 
help. It was a round table discussion conducted wholly by the boys, 
at which the teacher sat merely as a companion. Threshing out led 
to appeal to him for confirmation or rejection of suggestions in two 
or three cases, but his words were brief. 

LESSON IN FARM CROPS 

Topic. Insects Injurious to Corn 

T. How could you tell a cut worm from a wire worm? 

P. The wire worm is more like a wire. 

T. Is the body wall of the wire worm, as compared with the cut worm, soft or 

hard? 
P. Hard. 

T. How does the body look? 
P. Shiny. 

T. How about the color of the cut worm? 
P. It is kind of a dirty color. 
T. Did you find out what they are larva [sic] of? 

No reply. 
T. Well, the wire worm is the larva of the May beetle. 
T. What is the difference between a butterfly and a moth? 
P. I think butterflies are generally more brittle than moths. 
T. No, I don't hardly think there is much difference in butterflies. Let's have a 
look. 

He goes out and brings in a case of mounted Lepidoptera, which he holds 
before the class while he describes the antennce of moths and butterflies. Then 
he lays the case on the desk, and draws on the board the clubbed antenna of the 
moth. The case is thenceforth ignored, no pupil having looked at the insects 
from a closer range than six feet. 

T. What senses are in the antennae? 

P. Touch, hearing, smell, taste. 

P. Where are the nervous centers located in moths? 

T. In the back. But that is getting too far away from the subject. 

T. Where are the eggs of the cut worm and the wire worm laid? 

P. In the ground. 

T. How long will the larva of the wire worm live in a sod? 

P. Two or three years. 

T. Why isn't injury noted in grasses and small grains as it is in corn? 

P. Because there are more plants and more roots in the soil. 



86 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

T. How about prevention? For cut worms? 

P. You can make a dough of meal and bran and Paris Green, and poison them. 

T. Any other way? 

P. Yes. You can plow them in, in the fall. 

T. You mean you plow them in so deep they never come up, don't you? 

P. Yes. 

T. You haven't that very good, have you? 

T. How about the white grub? 

P. It injures corn. 

T. What is it the larva of? 

P. Of the May Beetle. 

T. That's right. It isn't the wire worm. I knew that. But I said it to see if 

you would notice. 

T. What about the life cycle gives us a chance to attack it? 

P. You can kill the grubs or you can spray trees and kill the beetles. 

T. What effect will what we do for wire worms have on the white grub? 

P. Plowing in the fall helps some. 

T. Describe the white grub for us. 

After several attempts on part of pupils he describes it himself. 

T. (facetiously) What use is the white grub? 

P. It makes good bait. 

P. Why isn't it safe to put Paris Green on cabbages? 

T. Because the Paris Green works into the cabbage leaves and makes them poison- 
ous. 

T. (turning page of the text) How about the root louse? How does the root louse 
produce injury? 

Pupils make numerous absurd guesses, among them, these: They drink up 
all the water before the corn can get it. They dig the soil away from the roots so 
the corn dries up. They call ants, and the ants sting the corn to death. 

The teacher closed the book, slammed it on the desk, and proceeded to berate 
the class. Then he gave up the remainder of the period to a talk on the relation 
of ants and aphids, in which he displayed a knowledge of the subject much 
more creditable than is revealed in the foregoing report. 

This teacher was employed in a state-aided town high school at a 
salary of $1,400. He was a graduate of an agricultural college, born 
and raised on a farm. 

LESSON IN SOILS 

Topic. Nitrogen 

T. What are the ways in which Nitrogen is lost from the soil? 

P. By leaching, cropping, erosion, and denitrification. 

T. How is Nitrogen lost by leaching? 

T. What do you mean by leaching? 

P. Rain water works into the ground and washes out the Nitrogen. 



Method 87 

T. It is lost through drainage, isn't it? 

P. Yes. 

T. What is the difference betv/een leaching and erosion? 

P. Leaching washes it through the soil; erosion carries it off over the surface. 

T. How is Nitrogen lost by cropping? 

P. When you take off a crop of tobacco and don't put anything back, you lose 

Nitrogen from the soil. 

T. Do weeds take off Nitrogen? 

P. Yes, unless you plow them in. 

T. In what soils does denitrification usually take place? 

P. In poorly drained or poorly tilled soils, where the air can't get in. 

T. What are the different sources of soil Nitrogen? 

P. Lime. 

T. No. 

P. Kainit. 

T. No. 

P. Nitrate of soda, barn-yard manure, sod and stubble. 

T. In case you plant a legume, is that a source of Nitrogen? 

P. Yes. 

T. Where does the Nitrogen come from? 

P. The air. 

T. Then the sources of Nitrogen are manure and air, aren't they? 

P. Yes. 

T. Those Soy beans we saw last week have been plowed under. What did they 

bring to the soil? 

P. Nitrogen. 

T. What other crops could you plow under to get Nitrogen? 

P. Clover, alfalfa, cow-peas. „ 

T. What are some of the commercial sources of Nitrogen? 

P. Ammonium sulphate and sodium nitrate. 

T. What is another name for sodium nitrate? 

P. Nitrate of soda. 

P. Chile salt-petre. 

T. Where does it come from? 

P. Chile. 

T. Any other sources? 

P. Dried blood. 

T. How much nitrate of soda should a farmer apply? 

P. Forty to sixty pounds to the acre. 

T. What happens if he applies too much? 

P. It kills the crop. 

P. It makes the soil hard. 

P. It makes a kind of plaster. 

T. Is nitrate of soda very soluble? 

P. No. 

P. Yes. 

T. What happens to the soil if you apply too much ammonium sulphate? 

P. You spoil the soil and kill the crop. 



88 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

P. It is likely to make the soil acid. 

T. What should you apply with the sulphate? 

P. Lime. 

T. Where do we get dried blood? 

T. At the slaughter houses, don't they? 

P. Yes. 

T. About how much should be applied to the acre? 

P. About 200 pounds. 

T. Isn't that too much? 

P. I don't know. 

T. Well, how much mixed fertilizer is usually applied? 

P. From 300 to 500 pounds. 

T. Are there any bad effects from applying too much? 

P. It will spoil the crop. 

T. Does it have any bad effects on the soil? 

P. No. 

T. Well, it is very slowly available. It may take two years to do any good. 

T. About how many pounds of ammonium sulphate shall we put on an acre? 

P. Twenty-five. 

P. Forty. 

T. (Advises frequent small applications of nitrate of soda, emphasizing danger of 
using too much.) 

T. The answers came too slowly today. We shall spend the next two days 
studying Nitrogen, and then have a test. I want you to pay attention to 
the five effects of areation, so that if I ask you, you can tell why. 



LESSON IN POULTRY, double period 
Topic. Appliances 
The following appeared on the board : 

"Always in this course before recitation outline the assignment before you come 
to class. Do this in Poultry, Soils and Forestry." 

CONTINUATION OF OUTLINE 

Poultry Appliances 
6. The Broody Coop. 

A . Defined : is a coop designed to hold broody hens. 

B. Essentials: 

a. It must be cool. 

b. It must have plenty of light. 

c. It must be large enough to provide one square foot of floor space for 

every twenty hens in the laying pens. 

(a) This varies with the breeds. 

(b) Should never be less than three square feet. 



Method 89 

7. Dust Wallow. 

A. Use: 

c. Keeps down lice. 

b. Gives some exercise. 

c. Hens like it; it adds comfort. 

B. Location: 

a. Outside of house, so dust will not be in the house. 

b. May be in one corner of house. 

C. Size : 

a. At least four square feet of dust-wallow for every 100 hens. 

D. Materials: • 

a. Sifted coal ashes. 

b. Ordinary road dust. 

8. Shipping crates. 

A. Essential that a crate be: 

a. Light. 

b. Strong. 

c. Airy. 

B. Materials: 

c. Light. 

b. Strong. 

c. Cheap. 

9. Chick Shipping Box. 

A. Should be comparatively tight — only air enough to keep chicks going. 

B. Box no higher than the chicks. 

C. Not more than fifty in a box. 

10. Dropping Board Platform. 

A . Advantages : 

c. Keeps house much cleaner. 

b. Gets droppings in pure form. 

c. Decreases air space around birds — keeps them warmer in winter. 

d. Decreases drafts on birds. 

B. Disadvantages: 

c. Costs more money. 
b. Requires more labor. 

C. Arrangement: run the boards from front to back. 

D. Cleaning hoe: ordinary broad hoe with board attached, 

11. Fattening Coop: used especially for fattening cockerels. 

A. c. It should be airy. 

b. Room along front for all birds to eat. Prevents fighting. 

c. Put only ten birds in a coop. 

B. Construction: 

a. Wire netting stretched over board floor. 

12. Trolleys. 

A. Make it of barn door track and rollers. 
B- Be sure you want it before you install it. 

13. Catching hook. 



90 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

RECITATION 

T. What were we talking about last time? 
P. Inside devices. 

T. Well, we are going to start some chicks after Christmas. What are you going 
to have for a chick feeding device? 

Every boy had a suggestion or a reason for or against one device or the other. 
Boys stood and addressed the class, not the teacher. 

T. What did you decide was the best watering device? 

Discussion indicated agreement on fountains. ' 

T. Why would you rather have an earthen than a galvanized fountain? 

Argument again, with most boys favoring the earthenware as more durable 
and more easily cleaned, and less easily upset. Objections were that the earthen- 
ware is more expensive, heavy to handle, and not easily mended when broken. 

T. Where did you see a running water system? 

One boy describes the system on a plant visited by the class and several de- 
scribe systems that they have seen. 

T. Now, remembering you have to keep under a dollar a hen, what do you think 
of the barrel method? 

Here followed a prolonged and animated argument on the barrel method 
versus a piping scheme. 

T. What feeding devices have we considered? 

Boys name several types of hoppers, fetching them out for inspection. 
T. What do you think of the dry mash hopper? 

Most regarded it as a great convenience, but one criticized it as unsanitary. 
T. What are some of the essentials of an egg crate? 

Boys list desirable properties. 
T. {Producing patent pasteboard egg crate) Well, what do you think of this? 

Criticism interested and intelligent. 

Here the teacher felt it necessary to complete the assignment promptly and 
turned to the board. The boys sagged into their seats to answer with mechanical 
promptness, often by literal reading of the blackboard outline, a long series of 
questions like the following: 

T. What do you mean by a broody hen? 

P. A hen that wants to hatch chicks. 

T. Is it natural for all hens to want to hatch chicks? 

P. Yes, but some breeds don't. White Leghorns, for instance. 

T. What is a broody coop? 

P. A coop designed to hold broody hens. 

7". What are its essential features? Etc. 



Method 91 

LESSON IN FARM ARITHMETIC 
Topic. Commercial Fertilizers 

Lesson began with the assignment of eight problems in the text for the follow- 
ing day. Then followed rapid fire questions, such as are reported, with indicated 
replies, given for the most part promptly and in interested fashion. 

T. What fertilizer materials did you see yesterday? 

P. Tankage, dried blood, sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, acid phosphate, 

ground rock, bone, dried fish, muriate of potash, sulphate of potash, kainit, 

wood ashes, cotton seed meal. 

T. What would you be feeding your plants if you put on nitrate of soda? 

P. Nitrogen. 

T. Why is this a good form of nitrogen to use? 

P. Because the plant can use it right away. It is soluble. 

T. Do you remember how Dried Blood appeared? 

P. It was a fine blackish powder. 

T. What does it come from? 

P. The slaughter houses in Chicago. 

T. Where else? 

P. Buffalo and Omaha. 

T. Where would you go to get it? 

P. To the men who have it for sale. 

T. Well, who are the men who have it for sale? 

T. Why, where would you get it in your home town? 

T. Who has it for sale here? 

T. (Stops to explain the distribution through ivholesalers, jobbers, grocers and grain 

dealers.) 

T. What would you be putting on the land when you add blood? 

P. Blood. 

P. Nitrogen. 

T. What per cent, of blood is nitrogen? 

P. About ten per cent. 

T. Does it vary considerably? 

P. Yes. 

T. What else do you remember from the lot yesterday? 

P. {Gives list again.) 

T. Which ones furnish phosphoric acid? 

P. Acid phosphate, rock phosphate, bone, fish, tankage. 

T. Which ones furnish potash? 

P. Muriate of potash, sulphate of potash, wood ashes, kainit, cottonseed meal. 

T. Now, what do we call these things? 

P. Fertilizers. 

T. Every one of them contains quantities of what kinds of materials? 

P. Dry materials. 

P. Plant foods. 

T. What do we call them, then? 

P. Plant food carriers. 



92 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

T. Now, go to the board, David, and give us the shorthand for nitrogen, phos- 
phoric acid, and potash. 

P. {Writes) N., K2O, P2O. 

T. Can you give shorthand for nitrate of soda and for ammonia? 

P. {Writes) Na NO3, N H3. 

T. What does that shorthand tell you? 

P. Nitrate of soda has nitrogen in it, ammonia has nitrogen in it. 

T. Anything else? 

P. Yes, nitrate of soda has sodium in it and oxygen; ammonia has hydrogen. 

T. Now, has the farmer got to think about chemistry? 

P. Yes. 

T. {Hangs up a hag of Essex Complete Manure, empty, so that the printed guarantee 
is plain.) Now, tell me what that means. {By means of rather skilful ques- 
tioning he elicits a very creditable interpretation.) 

T. Now, find out what you buy when you buy a bag of that. {Boys spend about 
ten minutes in figuring the pounds of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash 
in the bag.) 

T. Now, John, you can tell me what you know about that bag. Harry, David, 
et al. 

Boys make very creditable summaries. 

T. Isn't it fine to be able to read bags, and to know that the fertilizer man can't 
take your money away from you? 

LESSON IN FARM MANAGEMENT 

T. What would you do in case of failure of a seeding in a rotation? 

P. Plow and seed again. 

T. What effect would that have? 

P. It would halt the rotation and upset plans. 

T. Which would be more difficult, a rotation on equal fields or one on unequal 

fields? 
P. A rotation on unequal fields. 

T. Would there be any advantage in rotation under these conditions? 
P. Yes. You would stand a better chance of hitting the market somewhere 

every year. 
T. Go to the board and work out a rotation for a 160-acre farm, calling for 

eighty acres of wheat, forty acres of hay, twenty acres of corn, and twenty 

acres of potatoes. 

The results varied somewhat. Plans were criticized in order by the class in 
rather shrewd fashion; then a summary criticism in which practical difficulties 
were emphasized was made by the teacher. 

T. Can you have a five-year crop rotation on less than five fields? 
P. No. 
T. Why not? 

P. It is possible to grow more than one crop on a field in a season, but at least 
one crop must be grown. 



Method 



93 



Work this out: On a seventy-five acre farm, plan to take off twenty-five acres 
in buckwheat, twenty-five acres potatoes, twenty-five acres of oats, and 
twenty-five acres of clover every year. 

A pupil's plan: 



I9I5 


igi6 


1917 


Clover 
Buckwheat 


Potatoes 


Oats 


Oats 


Clover 
Buckwheat 


Potatoes 


Potatoes 


Oats 


Clover 
Buckwheat 



Part of Criticism: 

T. How do you provide for organic matter? 

P. By plowing under clover. 

T. Would you plow under a good crop of clover? 

P. No. I would cut the first crop and plow under the second. 

T. Where would you get in your buckwheat under that scheme? 

P. I couldn't get it unless I followed oats. 

T. When would you seed the clover? 

P. I might seed in the spring but that would not be so good. 

T. How often do you remember cutting a second crop of clover round here? 

P. It is not very often that you can. 

T. Can you carry two rotations on the same farm? 

P. Yes. 

T. Give an illustration. 

P. Corn, oats, wheat, hay and beans, wheat, clover, potatoes. 

T. What advantages in wheat after beans? 

P. The land is clean, you have time to get in the wheat after harvest, and the 

beans bring some nitrogen to the soil. 

T. Work this out: 

A New York farmer has 100 acres. Figure a rotation growing five acres 
of potatoes, five acres of beets, five acres of corn, twenty acres of oats, 
twenty acres of wheat, twenty acres of clover, twenty acres of timothy. 

T. How many fields do you need for that rotation? 
P. Five. 

Plans again subject to class criticism. 



94 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

T. What objection is there to putting wheat on grass land? 

P. The grass feeds in the same way as the wheat. Then sod is a little loose for 

wheat. 
T. What are some of the benefits of a rotation? 

Pupil recites text list in order. 

T. What relation does a cropping system have to a feeding system? 

P. Don't know what you mean. 

T. Think it over a minute. 

P. You have got to provide for forage in planning your rotation, and what you 

feed will make a difference in the value of the manure. 

T. Why is it we have so many one-crop systems in this country? 

P. Because the country is new, and one crop usually pays better than any other 

in the different states. 

T. What is the principal crop of the South? 

P. Cotton. 

T. Why? 

P. It pays best. 

T. What is the principal crop of New York? 

P. Hay. 

T. Why? 

P. It pays most for labor. 

T. Of Minnesota? 

P. Wheat. 

T. Why? 

P. Same reason. 



Examinations 

No data were gathered with respect to the frequency of exami- 
nations, 'quizzes', or 'tests'. Term or quarterly examinations 
seemed to be the rule. In addition, a number of teachers stated 
that it was their custom to have a 'quiz' at the 'completion' of 
every topic. Several lecturers said 'every two weeks', and at least 
one 'every week'. That is, regular examinations were held ac- 
cording to the rules of the school, additional examinations in accord 
with the notions of the individual teacher. 

Whether the examination be looked upon as a means whereby the 
teacher may check his own work or the work of his pupils, or as a 
method of teaching; whether it be a test of memory or a means to 
organic thought, it may reasonably be expected to show forth that 
content which, in the mind of the teacher, is of most importance. 
That is, it reveals a selection of material more discriminating than 
that of the ordinary recitation. Further, if it be a means to teach- 



Method 



95 



ing, it should reveal the ability of the teacher to stimulate thinking, 
to question. 

Several specimens of examinations are submitted for study. The 
form of the question is relatively easy to judge, though in the ab- 
sence of knowledge of teaching developments in the respective 
classes, it is not possible to give an absolute value to any question, 
with regard to its thought-producing properties. On the other 
hand, it is difficult to precipitate the criteria of selection, if definite 
standards do exist. In topics dealing with productive agriculture 
it seems reasonable to judge that one such criterion should be 
control. Knowledge on the productive side may be evaluated in 
terms of its usability in control of racial and individual growth in 
plants and animals. Conventional, cultural, and preparatory 
evaluation may also be made. That definite standards for the se- 
lection of material, other than that of reproducing a skeletal replica 
of the text, do prevail, appears doubtful. In so far as text selection 
is just, and no such selection can always be just in varying localities 
and groups, the class is fortunate. 

EXAMINATION IN FARM CROPS 

1. Give the Latin name for oats. 

Give the names and pedigrees of Wisconsin oats. 
Name as many other varieties as possible. 

2. Name the five leading oat-producing states. 

What place does Wisconsin occupy? 

What part of the world's supply does the United States produce? 

3. Give the time, rate, and best method of seeding oats. 

4. Should we manure oat ground? If so, when, and how much? 

5. Give all the uses of oats. 

boys' papers in examination on farm crops 
A 

1. The Latin name for oats is Venus Setivia. 

The pedigree names for oats are Wisconsin wonder or pedigree no. i. Swedish 
select, or pedigree no. 5; and the sixty-day oats. Other varieties are: rust- 
proof. 

2. The five leading oat-producing states are Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Nebraska 

and Minnesota. Wisconsin ranks third in amount of oats raised. 
The United States produces about one-half of the total amount produced in 
the world. 



96 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

3. The time of seeding oats around here is the latter part of April. 

The rate is two to three bushels to the acre. 
The best method of seeding oats is with the drill which gets the oats in all 
about the same depth and more evenly sown. Sometimes it is sown broad- 
cast, which is a poor method because the oats are sown too unevenly. 

4. Oat ground should not be manured the same year that it is planted except 

with the crop residues because the ground is too rich and the oat will lodge. 
The crop planted previous to oats should be manured but not the oat 
ground. 

5. The uses of oats are mostly for horses or working animals because it is a 

muscle-producing food; it is also used for human food and for chickens 
and mixed with swill for hogs. It is also good for all kinds of growing animals. 
The straw is used for bedding although it is a very good roughage. 

B 

1. Swedish select or pedigree No. 5. 

Pedigree No. i or Wisconsin Wonder. 

Sixty-day oat not pedigree. Other varieties are Big Four. 

2. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. 

Wisconsin has first place. 

United States produced about all the oats, or two-thirds. 

3. The time to plant is the last half of April or early, if good year; later, if poor 

year; two to three bushels should be planted the acre. The best method 
of seeds is driller and checker. 

4. We should not manure oat ground unless it is necessary, because it makes the 

soil too rich. It should be manured a year before, or if the manure should be 
well rotted when put on the oat land, very little should be put on an oat 
field. 

5. Oats are used as food for working horses, growing horses, dairy cows and pigs. 

When ground, for food for people, as oat meal. 

EXAMINATION IN SOILS 

1. Name in order of importance the chemical elements necessary for plant 

growth. Which are apt to become exhausted? 

2. What is meant by osmosis and what is its relation to plant growth? 

3. Name the conditions for germination and for plant growth. 

4. Define the term soil. What is meant by the physical make-up of the soil? 

Describe a method of soil analysis. 

5. Name three classes of rocks and tell what is meant by the names. 

What is meant by a rock-forming mineral? 

Name four different classes of soils with respect to origin. 

6. How are soil and subsoil distinguished? 

7. What is nitrification? What conditions are necessary to the process? 

8. What is meant by nitrogen fixation? 

9. What is meant by soil inoculation? 



Method 97 

EXAMINATION IN AGRONOMY 

1. Does each element which we eat have a duty to perform in the body? 

2. Does each element taken up by the plant have a duty to perform for the plant? 

3. Can one element be substituted for another? 

4. Which contribute most towards the material of the plant, air- or soil-derived 

elements? 

5. Name four things which make nitrogen of so much interest agriculturally. 

6. What is the effect of nitrogen upon foliage? 

7. What crops benefit by the use of large amounts of nitrogen? 

8. What 

9. What 

10. What 

11. What 

12. What 

13. What 

14. What 

15. What 



is the effect of nitrogen upon the flowering process? 
is the effect of nitrogen upon the maturing of plants? 
is the effect of nitrogen upon the color of plants? 
is the effect of nitrogen upon the resisting power of plants? 
is the effect of nitrogen upon general all-round growth? 
is the effect of phosphorus upon the germination of the seed? 
is the effect of phosphorus upon the maturing of a crop? 
is the effect of phosphorus upon the relative amounts of straw and 
grain? 

16. What is the effect of potassium upon the formation of carbohydrates? 

17. What is the effect of potassium upon stems and leaves? 

18. What is the effect of potassium upon resistance to disease? 

19. What is the effect of potassium upon leguminous crops? 

20. What is the effect of calcium upon the root-hairs? 

21. What is the relation of sulphur to plant proteins? 

22. What is the action of carbon in plants? 

23. What is the action of oxygen in plants? 

EXAMINATION IN POULTRY 

1. 25 wts. Define breed, variety, strain, single comb, rose comb, cock, cockerel, 

hen, pullet, barring, penciling, squirrel-tail. 

2. 50 wts. a. Starting with head, name the parts of the hen's body. 

b. Describe the characteristics of the parts you associate with vigor 

and egg type. 

3. 25 wts. a. From what country and how were the Leghorns brought to 

America? 
h. They originally came from what type of native fowl now found in 
India? 

c. Name five economic qualities of the Leghorn fowl that has made 

it popular in America. 

EXAMINATION IN POULTRY 

1. Draw a plan for a poultry house for 100 hens. 

2. Make a bill of lumber for the house. 

3. Draw a sketch of a hen and indicate the parts of the body. 

4. What points would guide you in selecting fowl for egg production? 



98 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

EXAMINATION IN ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

1. (lo) Tell the uses the plant makes of: 

a. Roots, b. Leaves, c. Flowers. 

2. (id) What are the three parts to a seed, and tell the use of each. 

3. (10) Where should a farmer get most of his seed for planting? 

4. (10) In sowing wheat, why is drilling preferred to broadcasting? 

5. (10) What are four conditions necessary to secure a good crop of corn? 

6. (10) Why discard the tips and butts in preparing seed corn? 

7. (10) Explain fully how a white kernel may appear on a yellow ear. 

8. (10) Why is a cylindrical ear of corn better than a tapering one? 

9. (10) How should corn be selected and stored? 
ID. (10) How should seed corn be tested? 



Lectures 

The lecture method of presentation of subject matter is common 
to thirty-five of the fifty schools. It seems to be a direct conse- 
quence of the agricultural college training of teachers. Two direc- 
tors in special schools reported that thus far all efforts on their part 
to eliminate lecturing had been unsuccessful. The teachers felt 
that the one way in which they could unify and make clear the 
various topics of the agricultural course was by lecture. Con- 
sequently a repetition, in more or less perfect form, of the instruction 
of their college days to their adolescent pupils, was frequent. The 
purpose seemed to be, commonly, not the imparting of information 
that is unavailable in text or reference, but a formal assembling of 
facts. 

However, the lectures heard were very variable in form and in 
interest. There was the slow dictation from the typewritten page, 
the formal elaboration, head by head, of carefully systematic notes, 
the inspirational sermon, the ofif-hand and often unorganized dis- 
course. So far as the judgment of the visitor may be trusted, these 
last seemed of most interest and value. Perhaps the reason lay in 
the type of men who undertook such a proceeding. These were the 
men who knew the subject first-hand, who constantly cited illus- 
trations of a concrete nature, who, if not always providing new 
information, yet reviewed from a new angle the material to be found 
in books. The less experienced men were, on the whole, apparently 
more careful and less interesting, for the reason that they recited 
rather what they had heard or read, than what they had seen or 
done. In their formal presentation, too, they were less tolerant of 
and less subject to questions and interruptions by the class. The 



Method 99 

greater concreteness and the personal touch of the less formal 
'talk' led to more frequent questioning and even argument. 

The knowledge of the subject matter displayed in the lectures was, 
on the whole, very creditable. Only one man among those listened 
to, ventured to expatiate at length upon what he did not know. 
He preached a sermon upon the evolution of plants and animals 
that was amazing in its vigor and inaccuracy. In the special schools 
several of the lectures were of a first-class order. Yet for the most 
part, the activity of pupils in these classes consisted in scribbling 
notes at top speed. 

Supervised Study 

Provision for supervised study in the class period was made 
definite in seven schools. Just what attempt is ordinarily made to 
help students to study in this period, it is hard to say. One teacher 
spent the time set apart for study in completing his lecture, another 
in a continuation of questions upon the text. Two sat down at their 
desks and left the class to its own devices. One assigned the writing 
of a brief composition upon 'Farm Yard Manure', and gave his 
time to aiding in organization. He moved from boy to boy, asking 
"Now, what are the heads you are going to make? Which do you 
think are most important?" etc. Then, as sheets were completed, 
he read them critically, saying, "Now, why do you say that? 
Couldn't you state that a little more clearly?" and the like. Two 
others distributed question outlines for projects, and stood by to 
give aid in explanation. Both were kept busy by the boys. 

The Round-up 

A practice, reminiscent of the agricultural college, and suggestive 
of the farmers' institute, was reported in some half dozen schools. 
This is the setting apart of a period weekly, fortnightly, or monthly 
for report and discussion of topics treated in farm papers or other 
publications. The possibilities for constructive organization and 
real teaching are considerable under the plan. But the work seen 
in the two cases of such meetings attended by the visitor was dis- 
tinctly disappointing. In neither case was there any central topic 
for discussion, any problem to be solved. The boys had chosen 
haphazard from publications in the library, and reported verbally, 
or read, the contents of the article of their choice. In neither case 
did any serious discussion arise, nor was any original contribution 



1 00 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

put forward. But a more sustained effort at self-expression than 
is usual in the classroom, and an actual contact with new sources 
of information, did result. 

The haphazard nature of the program is suggested by the follow- 
ing: 

TOPICS REPORTED ON AT A 'rOUND-UP' 

1. Rainfall. 

2. Silos. 

3. Poem, 'The Lazy Farmer'. 

4. Rabbits as an Orchard Pest. 

5. The Oregon Agricultural College. 

6. The Production of 'Hot House Lambs'. 

Laboratory Methods. See Table 29 

In the laboratory in Soils, Agronomy, or Farm Crops, the follow- 
ing of a series of set experiments by direction of a printed manual 
or typewritten outline was the usual procedure. In most cases, 
students worked as individuals, each one responsible for the doing 
and recording of the whole number of experiments. That is, the 
plan of procedure is that usual in the physics and chemistry of the 
high school. In a few cases, poverty of equipment was such that 
no ingenuity in the rotation of apparatus could give individuals a 
chance, and the class worked in groups. Demonstration by the 
teacher, and in one case by selected students, before the class, is 
the only method used in the laboratory of six schools. Six high 
schools did no laboratory work. 

Perhaps the most common piece of apparatus in the schools is a 
hand-power Babcock tester. The presence of that useful little 
machine is indicative of the dairy work of the high schools. The 
restriction of dairy laboratory work to milk testing in such schools 
is almost inevitable. Even the possession of live stock may not 
justify the use of milk for practice in the making of butter, or more 
rarely of cheese, though pasteurization might well be more fre- 
quently taught, even in high schools owning no dairy cattle. 

The amount of time given to testing milk is very variable. Some- 
times merely a test by each boy, or even by the teacher, makes up 
all the work. More frequently, however, the work is motivated by 
testing of the pupils' home herd or individual cows. Sometimes the 
high school becomes the medium for testing of herds in the com- 
munity. One school reported making tests for 180 farmers. An- 



Method loi 

other had tested for the elimination of unprofitable animals in 
sixty herds during the year. In such cases, the work becomes a 
community service, but from the educative point of view becomes 
excessive. 

In the special schools, the possession of live stock and complete 
equipment allows an elaboration of work in the dairy laboratory. 
To the testing of milk, skim milk and cream, for butter fat and 
solids, testing for adulteration, for acidity, is added work in pas- 
teurization, sterilization, standardization, cooling, skimming, butter- 
making, and even cheese-making. In the larger schools, the labor- 
atory work is not to be distinguished in content or method from 
that given undergraduates in colleges. 

In Farm Management, laboratory work consists almost wholly in 
the working of problems in cost accounting, planning of rotations, 
and mapping of farms and buildings. To this is sometimes added 
'survey' work on the home farm, or on neighboring farms. Two 
schools had completed a community agricultural 'survey'. Again, 
field surveying, with compass, transit, level or plane table may be 
a part of the work, though this is infrequent. The class may recom- 
mend systems of cropping or rearrangement for farmers, thus per- 
forming a community service, but is not often called upon to do so. 
Most of the problems are fictitious, but a tendency to make them 
real is apparent. 

Method in Shop Work. See Table 30 

Thirteen schools in the high school group did not include shop 
work in the course of agriculture, and the preparatory school like- 
wise. All other schools gave shop work. 

In eight high schools, three state-aided, the formal tool process 
sequence of the old-line manual training room prevailed, as in two 
of the special schools. In seven high schools, three state-aided, and 
six special schools, procedure is by process sequence until such time 
as the student is considered trained sufficiently to undertake a 
project of his own. The period is variable, some instructors allow- 
ing the student to choose and own his own project early, after a 
relatively brief preliminary exercise in the use of tools; more with- 
holding freedom of choice till a relatively prolonged experience in 
the use of tools shall 'justify' the undertaking of elective tasks. 

The thirteen remaining schools, all but two organized under the 
home project scheme, made undertakings in shop work either (in 



1 02 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

one case) wholly a matter for the student's choice, or (in twelve 
cases) optional within the range of relation to the home project, 
school project, or class work in agriculture. In these the student 
begins at once to make something for which he sees a definite need. 
For instance, the first shop work of a boy who has bought pullets for 
a home project may be to build a poultry house; if he has a house, 
to build appliances for use in it. The first work, in two instances, 
was to build the bench at which he is to work. 

All sorts of undertakings were viewed in the shop work. Favorite 
were poultry houses, feed hoppers and troughs, brooder houses, 
cold frames. But bread boards, necktie racks, towel rollers, clothes 
hangers, fancy clothes poles, were, perhaps, more frequent still. 
Making products for sale or for gifts to the family were common. 
In a Congressional district school, the majority of boys were engaged 
in making kitchen cabinets, of excellent workmanship, for their 
mothers. Already they had furnished the bureaus, tables, book- 
cases and chairs for the principal's rooms. In a county agricultural 
school, the favorite project was a cedar chest, the market price of 
which might run to thirty dollars. In a state school, preceding 
classes having equipped the farm with wagons, sleds and wheel- 
barrows, present classes were turning them out for sale. 

School needs were sometimes the basis of shop work. One class 
in a high school was completing the equipment of the building in 
individual lockers, another was building benches and cabinets for a 
chemical laboratory. In repair and construction work about build- 
ings and on the farm, the range of undertakings was very wide 
indeed. 

Rule of thumb procedure, the following of explicit directions in 
the shop work, is usual. Granted the choice of a subject, the student 
must undertake its construction according to a set formula. In the 
process method step one, step two, is almost invariable. As to re- 
sults, generalizations are difficult. As a whole, the shop classes were 
among the most interested groups visited; in product, the work- 
manship of the special schools was superior to that of the run of 
high schools. Superior equipment, special teachers and, it may be, 
longer drill in the use of tools, contributed to this result. As to the 
superior ability of these more skilful workmen to meet original 
problems, no statement can be made. For the project workers of 
the high school, it may be said that they were solving original 
problems in fairly adequate fashion. Numerous examples of very 



Method 103 

crude workmanship might be cited, but no unusable product ap- 
peared. As the boys carried home their completed manufacturings 
under the project method, the range of exhibits was very much less 
than in the more formal classes. 

School Projects and the Use of Land 

Activities more or less definitely organized as so-called school 
projects are reported in the case of ten high schools and two special 
agricultural schools. Such projects call for the assumption to a 
greater or less degree of a common responsibility by all agricultural 
students or members of a class. In the coordination of cooperative 
effort, and in parallel to type activities of groups in farming they 
vary widely. In three schools a laying contest, in which each stu- 
dent entered one or a few fowl, made a 'school project'. By pairs 
students took charge of care and trap-nesting over a week or more. 
The only group end, perhaps, was that of securing a fair competition. 
In four cases, the group was in complete charge of an orchard from 
pruning time to harvest. In four cases, the group was in charge of 
a common plot of ground on which a single crop of alfalfa or several 
varieties of vegetables were grown. In one case, the class in horti- 
culture had organized itself as a club for social enjoyment which 
derived its funds from the sale of greenhouse plants. In another, a 
class in farm crops carried on a wheat variety test. In another, 
every student was assigned to the survey of several farms to the end 
that the group might complete an agricultural survey of the com- 
munity. In two cases, the group was responsible for the conduct of 
demonstration plots; in three, they were engaged in the construc- 
tion of a hen-house or shop on the school grounds. 

One more ambitious project is, perhaps, worth recording. The 
poultry class had built a hen-house and yard, and installed a flock 
of forty-five pullets, with money borrowed from the school board. 
They had collectively and individually engaged themselves to pay 
back the eighty-five dollars borrowed in equal annual instalments 
during the four years of the course with interest at five per cent. 

The most significant school project, however, was the formation of 
a cooperative society for the grading and marketing of products 
raised by the members in their home projects, on the plan of the 
fruit growers' association among adults. The organization was at 
its inception, and no measure of its success is yet possible. 

School land, used otherwise than as indicated, was usually di- 



1 04 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

vided into individual garden plots, either for all students or for 
boarding students, or for city boys who had no land for home pro- 
jects. In the two cases when allotment of land to boarders had been 
made, the summer work of production was in the hands of hired 
labor, the expense of which was charged to the sale of crops. In 
several schools the use of the school plot was wholly for the provision 
of laboratory material, particularly varieties of legumes not common 
in neighboring farms. In boarding schools the use of the farm was 
ordinarily to provide for the boarding house, and was mainly in 
charge of hired labor. Demonstration for farmers is the end of the 
farm in several of the special schools, commercial profit in two 
philanthropic schools. The educative aim is absent in these latter 
cases though, as has been shown, the educative use may be consid- 
erable. 

Two high schools reported giving up the school plot because of 
losses through theft. In three cases the possession of land had no 
significance. It was not used for any agricultural purpose. Prin- 
cipals reported that since most of the productive work must be 
carried on by hired labor in the absence of pupils over summer, the 
expense of cultivation was not justified. 

Method in Outdoor Work. Table 30 

As has been noted, weather and season made opportunity for 
observation of outdoor work in about half the schools visited unfav- 
orable. If, in any one particular, the run of teachers were uncertain 
and somewhat reticent in respect to their replies, it was as to the 
amount and character of field work. The impression is distinct that, 
apart from certain home project schools, and some schools with 
farms, the proportion of time allotted to outdoor work is very small. 
All schools that reported any outside work whatever are included in 
the table, even though that outside work be confined to scattering 
observation trips to neighboring farms or industrial plants, as was 
certainly the case in at least twenty-five per cent, of the schools, or to 
a lesson or two in pruning or spraying, the planting of a garden in the 
spring or gathering fruit and field crop specimens in the fall, or judg- 
ing a few horses or cattle in the neighborhood. One teacher re- 
ported that he spent every pleasant day of spring and fall outdoors, 
and that he thought fully one-half of the school time of his year was 
so occupied. This was the maximum. Several reported giving one 
day a week during fall and spring to outdoor work; more said, "I 



Method 105 

take them out whenever I can manage it," which seemed usually to 
be not often. It is to be noted, however, that in those high schools 
in which supervised home projects are required over summer, the 
total of time spent by students in outdoor work may be consider- 
able. Reports of projects indicate from one to two hours a day 
during the growing season as common. 

In the schools possessed of farms, the requirements already noted 
of a minimum period of farm work, ensured some participation in 
productive processes. The standard for such schools appears to 
be thirty hours per month of farm work, but the total of work is 
frequently less than in the home project schools. 

In all high schools, outdoor work is in charge of the teacher who 
conducts classes in the schoolroom, and the arrangement is usual 
in the schools of Groups B and C. However, in three instances such 
work was in charge of others. 

In twelve high schools, and one state school, in which the aim was 
distinctly acquirement of technology, outdoor work was almost 
wholly observation, usually with notes. In eighteen high schools 
observation was accompanied by, or subordinated to, practice in 
agricultural processes. That is, students did not only witness 
processes of spraying, pruning, judging, selection of seed, working of 
farm machines, and the like, but, usually after demonstration by 
the teacher, took part in such activities themselves, not often suf- 
ficiently to attain any marked proficiency, but sufficiently to give 
a first-hand acquaintance with the nature of the work. In a few 
cases the organization of pruning or spraying squads, of judging 
teams, and the performance of community service gave sufficient 
practice to the attainment of unusual skill. Two boys were reported 
to have earned their school expenses by testing farmers' herds 
during the summer, another had purchased a spraying outfit and 
made a business of spraying for neighbors, several carried on an in- 
termittent business in pruning orchard and shade trees and hedges, 
another had passed his summer at the stock-yards as assistant to a 
stock buyer. 

Farm work, determined by season and the needs of the farm, 
made up the outdoor work of six high schools and ten of the schools 
of Groups B and C. In small schools no grouping of students was 
necessary. In the larger schools students worked in groups by 
assignment. A more or less definite attempt at rotation in processes 
wrs reported in four of the special schools, in order that every stu- 



1 06 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

dent might partake at one time or another in all phases of work 
carried on. For instance, in one state school, the director, who made 
all assignments of work, kept a record of such to the end that every 
boy might have a part in the preparation of the corn land, planting, 
cultivating, cutting, filling the silo, and feeding silage and ear corn. 
Under such an arrangement more difficult tasks are assigned first 
to the most experienced. 

Only three schools reported no outside work whatever. 

From work witnessed, the impression was gained that, from an 
educative point of view, the outdoor lesson is ordinarily without 
organization. It lacks definite aim or plan. In one county school 
a class in poultry was engaged in a so-called 'school project'. Some 
twenty boys followed the instructor to the tool shop, gathered up 
hammers and nails, and repaired to the hen yards. Two or three 
boys were assigned to each yard, and busied themselves in renailing 
the base-boards of the fences, while the instructor looked on. In a 
state school a squad was engaged in digging potatoes. Armed with 
forks and hoes they marched in line across the rows, many of them 
chopping every time into the center of the hill, or spearing tubers on 
their forks. The only direction given was to 'throw out the rotten 
ones'. The descriptions appended suggest the same lack of instruc- 
tion and heed to the essentials of the skill, however simple. 

The Home Project Plan 

The use of the home project as a means to teaching agriculture 
is growing very rapidly. Chief credit for its development and spread 
is due to Dr. R. W. Stimson, of Massachusetts. The scheme of 
teaching agriculture through the home project in every school where 
it was found was based in features upon plans first published by him. 
Nearly every teacher, by the method, had in his possession and used 
one or all of the bulletins published by Dr. Stimson, through the 
United States Bureau of Education or the Massachusetts Board of 
Education. Conceptions as to the place of the project in agricultural 
education differed decidedly from that of Dr. Stimson, but the prac- 
tical working out of the plan has, in general, much that is common 
to the Massachusetts schools. 

In brief, the home project is an undertaking by the student on 
his home farm or village lot of real agricultural work. The work 
may be one of production through care of plants and animals, of 
investment in the form of construction or improvement, of money 



Method 107 

and labor, or of comparative experimentation. In the vast majority 
of cases, the work is productive, with a frankly economic motive; 
frequently, as a necessary concomitant of the productive effort, in- 
vestment in construction, with a motive also economic; rarely im- 
provement with the aesthetic motive, or experiment with a view to 
the selection of improved means to economic production. As 
examples, the students may grow one or several crops, keep one or 
several kinds of animals, construct buildings or drains, undertake 
a beautification of the home grounds, a betterment of sanitary con- 
ditions, or try out schemes of manuring, or compare varieties or 
strains of plants on the basis of economic returns. The project may 
be seasonal, all the year round, or continued through a series of 
years, and the student may carry on several projects of any or all 
kinds, according to the means and the time at his disposal. 

The range of projects is suggested by the appended classification 
of 1,253 students' projects. The classification for 862 is furnished 
through courtesy of Mr. L. S. Hawkins of New York, in charge of 
Agricultural Education for the University of the State of New York, 
the classification of the remaining 391 is compiled from lists fur- 
nished by Dr. Stimson for Massachusetts schools, and gathered 
by visits at some of those schools. 

The prevalence of the vegetable garden project in Massachusetts 
and of the poultry project in New York is a result of the dominance 
of the state requirements for state aid to high schools for vocational 
agriculture. In the one case the state outline calls for vegetable 
gardening in the first year, in the other for poultry raising. A large 
proportion of students in both states are still in the first year of 
work in agriculture. 

The carrying of home projects through the growing season or 
throughout the year may be required of the student either with or 
without supervision by the teacher, or may be optional. Fifteen 
high schools and two special schools among those visited required 
projects of all students through the course for the attainment of 
credit, seven high schools made the home project a matter of elec- 
tion with the student. In all cases, optional projects were unsuper- 
vised, in all but three cases required projects were supervised. 
Five schools had laid definite plans for the adoption of the project 
method. 

In theory the project is regarded in one development as the 
central activity of the pupil, out of which arise necessities for ad- 



I o8 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

justment calling for skill and knowledge which must be acquired, 
and giving motive for research, discussion, and classroom work to 
the end of resolving difficulties in achievement of the main end. 
In other words, the project becomes a problem through which the 
student is led into knowledge by which he may solve both it and 
other problems in the agricultural field. The center and core of 
teaching is the project. Selection of experience is radiate from 
the source. 

In another view, more widely prevalent, the project is born of 
classroom, field and laboratory teaching. The student undertakes 
a project only after he has knowledge sufficient to intelligent choice 
of an undertaking and to success in an organization of means to 
its completion. The project is emergent rather than central, the 
fruit rather than the core, a verification or exercise rather than a 
problem. 

Now, in practice, as revealed in the schools studied, the attitude 
of the state department or the officers in charge of the organization 
of agricultural education, seems to make very little difference in 
the use of the project. In Massachusetts schools, where the state 
department stands for the central problem idea, it is customary to 
undertake the work of vegetable gardening, as nature dictates, in 
the spring of the first year, after the student has been studying 
agriculture for some months. It is not necessary, even, that he 
choose his particular sub-project in gardening until he has been 
studying for some time. During the fall, he studies vegetable gar- 
dening 'projects' on paper in the form of typewritten question 
outlines. Thus the real project is emergent from previous study 
as is proper, according to the point of view taken by the authorities 
of New York and other states. 

In recognition of the fact that classroom study, even under a 
topic question organization, tends to become academic to a degree 
in the absence of a real problem, two teachers had introduced sub- 
projects with animals beginning in the fall, in order to have some- 
where in the boy's school experience a first-hand problem that 
should give motive and vitality to school work. 

On the other hand, the proposed initiation of the study of agri- 
culture with a home project in poultry, as in New York, makes for 
the possibility of an immediate problem. To be sure, the boys are 
expected to study poultry first, and to keep poultry later, so that 
the spring is the normal season for the emergence of reality. But 



Method 109 

in four New York schools, teachers had seized upon the opportunity 
for beginning with the reahties by getting their poultry projects 
under way in the fall. Topical organization, much like that of the 
Massachusetts schools, except for the omission of the question 
mark, appeared in some of these schools, but direct dependence 
upon the text as a guide, at least to the sequence of topics, was 
usual. Yet two of these men had come, somehow or other, to the 
idea that the real problem should control. For instance, both, 
having poultry already purchased by pupils, and, at least temporar- 
ily housed, had yielded to the pressure of common sense rather than 
to the 'logic of the subject', and begun at once the study of feeding. 
Even in schools where the living creatures were not yet in posses- 
sion of students, the most common of shop-projects, begun in the 
fall, were poultry appliances, and the construction or improvement 
of poultry houses. Fortunately for the spring arrangement the 
usual topical order permits a construction problem to emerge pre- 
maturely. 

There is a suggestion of the prevalent academic quality of the 
topic or question outline method, in these cases: At one school, 
for some years renowned for its project work, the teacher laid 
upon the table many sheaves of project outlines dealing with various 
crops. He told the boys to look these over carefully with a view to 
choosing from among them those best adapted to their home con- 
ditions or their personal likings. For a half hour, while the teacher 
was absent, the boys sorted and selected. At the beginning there 
was a scuffle to secure outlines from the pile. The eagerness was 
inspiring until the cause was revealed. To the successful in the 
scuffle, possession of a thin sheaf gave delight. All inordinately 
thick sheaves were sorted out and laid one side without opening. 
Then perusal began of the thinner sheaves. Among these, choice 
seemed largely determined by the number of references included. 
The fewer, the more pleasing. 

In another school, where the teacher showed an unusual inde- 
pendence of recommended organization and gave his approval to 
projects only in accordance with their fitness for the particular 
student and his home needs and conditions, one boy was hard at 
work upon a sheep-feeding 'project'. Inquiry revealed that he was 
a village boy, having only a small yard for project use, that he knew 
of no sheep in the vicinity, though he had seen some at a fair in the 
fall. It was his hope that, when he graduated, two years hence, he 



no Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

might go to his grandfather's farm in another state and become a 
sheep farmer. 

In another school the teacher confessed that he found it necessary 
always to review the 'projects' studied in the fall before the plant- 
ing time. Otherwise, and even then, he said, mistakes as to width 
of row and depth of planting were common. "We teach eighteen 
inches in the fall, but they are quite likely to plant at twelve inches 
in the spring, if we don't look out." There is food for reflection in 
this comment, not only with regard to remoteness of outdoor and 
indoor work in time, but as to the selection of subject matter for 
'preliminary study'. Rule of thumb directions lack through con- 
tent, as rote memorization tends to lapse, and in this form, under 
modern conditions, are frequently unnecessary. To drill in the 
formula for Bordeaux mixture, for instance, as is frequently done, 
is absurd. 

So far as classroom work was observed it did not appear that the 
formal question outline development of the project plan was in 
anywise superior to the categorical topic outline with its refer- 
ences. Nor is there any particular reason why it should be. A 
reading of many such outlines leaves the impression of a trend to 
a stereotyped form characteristic of the 'subject' rather than of 
the particular problem. Indeed, several such outlines studied 
are palpable question developments of the text-book treatment. 
Some outlines, however, recently published by the States Relations 
Service show decided improvement in both form and development. 
A mere change from the categorical to the hypothetical form of 
statement does not of necessity secure interest or provide motive. 
Teachers who made their own topic assignments seemed to secure 
quite as good a response as those who used the mimeographed 
'projects'. 

But the topical assignment, under either method, possesses one 
advantage over the common text recitation. It brings the student 
into contact with a variety of sources. Different presentations, at- 
titudes, points of view, deductions and inductions, come to his 
notice, and the real use of the book as a means to the solution of 
problems may come home to him. Unfortunately, however, the 
intent to teach the use of books, is not very evident in the usual 
development. References are, for the most part, specific, by title, 
author, chapter and page. For the farmer nobody stands by to 
furnish such direction when a new question arises. If books are to 



Method III 

help him, he must know how to find the material he needs. One 
teacher reported specific recognition of this fact. He said, "For the 
first half-year I give the boys exact references, and I make it a point 
to show them how I found those references to give them. After 
that, I expect them to find their own references, when I assign a 
topic, and they do. They can use the card catalogue and the index 
as well as I can." 

The impression is distinct that academic treatment and lack of 
correlation between indoor and outdoor work is still marked, even in 
home project schools, whatever the expressed attitude of authority 
with respect to the place and function of the project. But it may 
be that the conception of place and function in the mind of the 
teacher will tend to lessen these evils. Indeed, in the cases cited, 
such appeared to be the case. Accordingly, which point of view 
the teacher accepts becomes a matter of importance. 

It is very plausible to say that the boy cannot choose or carry 
out a project until he knows how. That is exactly the attitude of 
the shop teacher who holds that the student must not be permitted 
to make a feed hopper until he has mastered the tool processes. It 
tends to make the project an end rather than a means, and such it 
is plainly in the minds of many teachers and pupils. Certainly the 
motive to study lettuce growing this fall in order to make money 
next spring furnishes a more immediate motive than the vague or 
supposed desire to become a successful farmer. But it lacks the 
immediacy of motive of the problem that demands an answer now. 
As has been suggested, the process sequence may result in a more 
finished product, in wood or iron, than the problem method. But 
if the self-adjusting human organism be considered the product, 
such superiority is by no means clear. 

Further, the statement that the project should be the emerging 
resultant of class teaching carries in itself a contradiction. The 
project has been brought into use in the belief that class teaching 
does not teach. But making it an end is to presuppose that class- 
room teaching does teach. Certainly, then, the project becomes, at 
best, a matter of supererogation, an exercise or confirmation. 

Now the introduction of 'doing' is not for the purpose of giving 
skill, but of giving meanings. Not one teacher in the lot professed 
an expectation of turning out skilful farmers. Every one expressed 
the hope of turning out intelligent farmers. That being the case, 
an apperceptive basis for learning, founded in the vicarious experi- 



112 Organization and Method in A gricultiire in Secondary Schools 

ence of the classroom is, at best, but poor preparation for the con- 
duct of a successful project. On the other hand, the first-hand 
experience even of an unsuccessful project may be made of first-class 
importance in giving meaning to classroom teaching. It is a com- 
mon complaint of teachers that "I can teach the farm boys all 
right, but the city boys and the girls give me a lot of trouble." 
Surely. Because the words of the text and the classroom convey 
a meaning of some sort to the farm boy, if little or none to the city 
boy or girl. Thus, the project is a means to the perfection of teach- 
ing, not an end to be attained by teaching. To make it the fruit 
rather than the seed or core of method, is to discharge it of its chief 
function. 

In some schools, particularly in the Middle West, this argument 
against the project is made: "This is not a region of specialties. 
Our farmers are general farmers, they farm on a large scale, and a 
diversified plan. They are not growers of this or that, but farm 
managers. Besides, they are shifters. It does not follow that be- 
cause a boy goes to school in this county that he is going to take 
up a farm even in this state. He may go to Canada or the Pacific 
Coast or to the Southwest. If you train him for a specialty here 
you waste his time. All we can do is to give him the principles that 
guide in successful farming. We cannot give him a farm to man- 
age. The home project is all right for the East, but it is no good 
here." 

But this is to say that because we cannot give a boy complete 
experience in the problems of life, we should not undertake to give 
him any. The project, properly used, is a means, through typical 
instances, of induction into the principles that govern successful 
farming. In so far as it is real and first-hand it is superior as a 
means to the vicarious experiences of the recitation and lecture and 
observation trip. The spread of the home project to such states 
as Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota shows a growing 
realization of the ineptitude of the contention. 

Nevertheless, the charge that the home project is an isolated 
experience that does not carry over principles into general applica- 
tion is not without foundation, as the following instance may illus- 
trate. In a school where the adaptation of projects revealed un- 
usual skill, a fourteen-year-old Italian boy had purchased three 
cows, to be kept under housing conditions that would appall the 
ordinary dairyman. By intelligent feeding he had increased pro- 



Method 113 

duction to a profitable basis at the ordinary price; by extraordinary 
precaution as to the cleanliness of cattle, lintel, and utensils, he had 
produced milk of the highest grade. Board of health requirements 
hold to a maximum of 10,000 bacteria to the cubic centimeter. 
Tony showed the visitor certificates for samples of his milk showing 
less than 5,000. By virtue of them he had raised his price to twelve 
cents a quart. It is plain that he had been taught to do one thing 
well, and he was enthusiastic over the possibilities of farming. 

Now, in a yard adjoining the barn, ran half a dozen hogs. Among 
them was one particularly scraggly and stunted. In reply to the 
question, "What is the matter with that hog?" Tony said, "I 
don't know. He doesn't seem to grow. He is two years old already. 
We are keeping him till he gets big enough to kill." A primary 
principle of the economics of animal production should have told 
him that every meal that hog ate represented a dead loss. But the 
knowledge that guided him in the selection and management of his 
cows was of non-effect with respect to the hogs. 

The fault lay not in the project, but in the use of it. Elements 
common to both situations existed. The principle involved in the 
selection of profitable cows is not different from that in the selec- 
tion of hogs. Moreover, it was concretely illustrated in his own 
experience so that exposition of it in the classroom should have 
carried to him more than a casual recognition. The case but serves 
to emphasize the need for pedagogical skill among teachers of agri- 
culture. It is perfectly possible, in theory, for a teacher perfect in 
knowledge and skill, to lead, from a single problem, his pupil 
through the whole realm of knowledge. But there are no such 
teachers. For regeneration of the school, a first requisite is to pro- 
vide teachers of knowledge and skill sufficient to the selection and 
emphasis of essential principles. Such teachers, working through 
the concrete experience of the pupil, as obtained in the home pro- 
ject, have decided advantage of those who cannot know the pupil's 
experience. 

As has been suggested, the selection of projects appears largely a 
matter of dominance by central authority. The justification of a 
scheme which calls for a uniform type of project in a given year is 
made upon the grounds: Owe, In order that there may be a basis 
for classroom recitation there must be study of topics common to 
the whole class. Two, There are activities common to all farms 
which are within the scope of abilities and means of students, i. e., 



114 Organization and Method in A gricuUure in Secondary Schools 

the farm garden and the farm flock. Hence, the prevaiUng domi- 
nance of the kitchen garden and the poultry project in state plans. 

The first assumes that the recitation is necessary. The second 
may involve waste and error. Now the classroom teaching may, 
and should, prove an important and, perhaps, the most important 
means of organizing the material of individual experience. In so far 
as the experiences of pupils are identical, the simplification of the 
task is real. In so far as the common experiences of the class are 
limited in type and in number, the trend to a deductive treatment is 
likely. In so far as common experiences are numerous and still 
more as individual experiences are diversified, the opportunity for 
inductive teaching comes. Thus, enlarging the scope of the uniform 
project increases the number of instances involving common prin- 
ciples. Increasing the diversity of individual projects is, obviously, 
more easy of accomplishment than enlargement of the scope of 
common projects. 

The selection of a specific situation is useful largely as that situa- 
tion contains elements common to probable situations in future to 
be met by the pupil. The project is, or should be, a typical instance. 
But the single instance may well fail, and commonly does fail, to 
reveal its class bearing. A multiplication of instances involving a 
common element compounded with differing concomitants, serves 
to the exclusion and clarification of the common typifiers. If the 
single project has a weakness as a means to teaching, that weakness 
lies in its singleness. To induce a central principle diversity of in- 
stance is greatly helpful. Thus, as a help to inductive teaching, the 
multiplication of experiences among members of a class of pupils, 
though it involves experiences vicarious to an individual, serves 
concretely to ease the process. 

The project method is essentially inductive. To reduce class 
experience to a single or small group of instances, and to place those 
instances under an abstraction voiced by the teacher or text is the 
easy way for the teacher. To induce the generalization from appar- 
ently diverse instances is to increase his difficulty. But the school 
is not set up for the ease of the teacher. 

The skill and knowledge necessary to pick the essentials common 
to apparently diverse agricultural practices must be of a high, 
but not necessarily of a superlative order. Principles of control 
are, after all, relatively few, if multifarious in their manifestations. 
The educing and organization of these principles from as wide a 



Method 115 

range of real activities as possible is the function of class teaching 
in agriculture. To subordinate and lessen the number and scope 
of these activities to meet the needs of 'the subject' is to prostitute 
that function. 

Now the uniform requirement may not only fail of providing 
adequate adjustment to the needs and means of the individual, 
but may result in maladjustment. A boy resident on a large dairy 
farm, expressing a prime interest in cattle, desirous of succeeding 
his father in the business, is confronted with the necessity of carry- 
ing out his initial project in poultry. Partly in pique, partly in 
curiosity he chooses with approval, the care of ten pullets under a 
famous advertised scheme designed for the square rod of the subur- 
banite's backyard. 

In another district, the sons of an onion grower carry projects in 
kitchen gardening. During the growing season every member of 
the family is engaged all day in the onion fields. Only before break- 
fast or after supper can the boys be spared for work in the garden. 
Further wheelhoeing and hand weeding they find uninstructive and 
uninspiring. The teacher has taken the bit in his teeth and de- 
clares that such forcing shall not occur again. The boy on the onion 
farm shall have an onion project if he wishes, the boy on the dairy 
farm, a dairy project if he so desires, and the son of a fruit grower 
an orchard project. 

In another school where the full four years of work are under 
way, only market garden, poultry, and fruit projects are in hand. 
The community is one of specialties. Complaints of pupils and 
parents against a requirement not in line with their immediate 
needs and interests have led to the rejection of the state outline 
in part, under a nominal acceptance, and selection both in project 
and classroom work is based on local demand. 

Selection of home projects is made usually, in conference of 
teacher and boy, in which the parent is included to the extent that 
he has promised land, animals, materials, and time for the boy's 
accomplishment of it. Sometimes boy, parent, and teacher meet 
at the boy's home for a choice of projects within the limits of the 
established plan of the state or school. 

Some teachers were exercising an admirable independence in 
judgment in order to adapt the nature and scope of the home 
project to home conditions and needs. But too often the selection 
to which the approval was given conformed more nearly to the 



1 1 6 Organization and Method in A gricultiire in Secondary Schools 

demands of an outside authority than to the conditions of 
the case. 

Some of the state requirements show an excellent judgment and 
a measure of fiexibiUty. For instance, the first year of the New 
York plan calls for projects in poultry and shop work. Both are 
well within the means of the ordinary farm or village boy, both 
involve common farm activities, both involve active 'doing', both 
may give 'quick results', both offer a rather wide range of selection 
not closely restricted by seasonal or soil limitations. Both are 
based on a psychological foundation of appeal to adolescent boys. 
The two correlate excellently. Yet it is doubtful if the imposition 
even of such a requirement upon all alike is to be justified. Varia- 
tion in means, interests, needs, is too great. These conditions, the 
teacher who knows boy, parent, and home conditions, should be 
allowed to weigh as determinants of choice without dictation from 
authority. Several teachers have reported that it was their custom 
to ignore authority in the matter of selection and to get projects 
under way independently. When the project proved successful 
it was in no case rejected, though consultation in advance proved 
quite likely to result in a forbidding of the undertaking. 

The conditions that enter to determine the choice of a project 
are numerous and call for careful judgment. It is easier to fall 
back upon the outline. That teachers do make their own adapta- 
tions in some cases is a very promising sign. Local market demands, 
home needs for consumption, soil, climate, topography, season, 
capital investment, availability of tools, machines, horse power, 
continuity and intermittence of labor, prompt results, margin of 
probable success, immediacy of motive, personal preference, atti- 
tude of parent, and of the community, relative educational values, 
specific aim of the teacher, are some of the factors that must be 
considered. Except for educational values, it is not possible to say 
which shall control in every case. Instances of limitation might be 
cited at great length, but a few will serve. One boy was the son of 
a tobacco grower. He wished to grow a plot of tobacco. But 
community attitude toward the teaching of tobacco growing was 
unfavorable. He had to grow onions. Another boy wished to 
undertake a dairy project, but his father would not spare him the 
cows. Another wished to keep hens, but his mother disliked them. 
A father wished his boy to undertake feeding of dairy cattle, the 
boy preferred to grow strawberries. Although in Massachusetts 



Method 117 

and New York hay is the dominant crop, only four projects with hay, 
all experimental, are reported, among 1300 odd from those states. 
Intermittence of labor, and lack of scope, outweigh local demand. 

Intelligently selected and used, the home project method is one of 
the most hopeful features of agricultural education. On the social 
side it moves to the unity of school and home education, it lessens 
the need for special away-from-home institutions, it enables a 
greater number to couple the interests of vocational education 
with interests shared by their fellows in school life, it opens a way 
to release from traditional school methods. That it has not yet 
realized its possibilities, is plain, but not altogether discouraging. 
A first means to that realization is the teacher imbued with a 
philosophy that carries beyond the subject to the pupil, a teacher 
who sees in the achievements of his pupils the progress of method 
rather than the fulfilment of ends. Through the freedom of this 
teacher is to come the progressive organization of the agricultural 
course. The teacher and the freedom are rare, both are possible. 

The opportunity of the teacher in agriculture, under the home 
project scheme, for individual teaching is unexcelled. As no other 
teacher can, he comes to know his pupils. He sees the boy in the 
school and in the home environment. He knows the conditions 
under which the boy has experienced life, his personal traits, his 
interests, the limitation of his means, his needs, his opportunities, 
as one who meets him only as one of a class, can seldom know him. 
To select, then, according to the needs, and to teach in terms of a 
first-hand experience of the boy, are to the teacher of agriculture 
difficulties relatively easy of solution. 

Supervision of Projects. Table 30 

When supervision is required of the teacher, the usual plan is to 
visit the homes frequently in the summer, less frequently in the 
spring and fall, while school is going on, and occasionally during 
the winter months. Once a week in the summer, once in two weeks 
in the fall and spring, once a month in the winter is a common plan. 
But few teachers reported a strict adherence to the plan. Distance 
to be covered, means of transportation, weather, and other duties 
tended to the modification of any set plan. Often the route of the 
teacher is a long one. One man reported it necessary to cover 
125 miles in order to complete his round of visits. As a sample of 
how the work may be carried out, a report furnished by Mr. A. W. 



1 18 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

Doolittle, of the Concord, Massachusetts, high school, is given on 
page 182. The various means of transportation are indicated by 
data furnished by Mr. L. S. Hawkins for teachers in New York on 
page 180. The time and the expense involved in visiting projects 
limits the size of classes that a teacher can handle. In Massachu- 
setts a limit of twenty pupils to the teacher has been set. 

Records 

In all cases where the home project was used in the teaching of 
agriculture, full and more or less systematic records were required 
of students. In some schools the student kept a daily record of his 
activities, even those not concerned with the project, and of the 
weather. Instructors said that this requirement proved irksome. 
The boy was quite likely to let the record go for a week or more 
and then to fill it out by guesswork. Even the reports of hours of 
labor upon the project, particularly in the unsupervised projects, 
were subject to the same sort of treatment. But, on the whole, 
the requirement of records of expenditures in money, man-labor, 
horse-labor and fertilizer, and the like were faithfully kept and 
checked against the sale of the product or the market price of pro- 
ducts turned in for family use. A system of cost accounting is in- 
tegrated with the production project, a very useful feature. Out of 
this, however, seems to have arisen a tendency to measure the success 
of the project in terms of the profit made by the student, and to look 
upon those schools as most successful in the teaching of agriculture, 
whose students have conducted most profitable undertakings. Cer- 
tainly such a standard is in line with that of common life, wherein 
the most successful farmer is he who makes most money. It tends 
to the conviction of many parents of the worth of agricultural 
schooling. But from the point of view of the educator, it is not 
altogether fortunate. It confirms the view that the project is an 
end rather than a means. It measures success in terms of the 
material product rather than in terms of education of the boy. 
When this view is held, it is almost inevitable that the project be 
reserved as a test of ability in the use of skill and knowledge, rather 
than that it be put forward as an immediate means to the acquire- 
ment of skill and knowledge. , 

With the question and topic outlines of project plans the use of 
the note-book is common. After reading his references the student 
is expected to organize in his own words the procedure that he 



Method 119 

proposes to use, that he is using, or that he has used. Of the value 
of such a plan there is little question. But sometimes the note-book 
is overworked. In one school the plan called for three note-books. 
In the first, the student answered all questions out of his own 
unaided experience. In the second, he entered answers derived 
from reference study and inquiry. In the third, he organized the 
whole in his own words. One student had filled fifteen five-cent 
note-books in the course of a half year. 



EXTENSION WORK 

No study of the extension activities of teachers was made. As 
a rule, the interest of teachers in this side of their work is strong, 
A favorable acquaintance among farmers may lead to the county 
agent's job, which pays a higher salary than is usual for teachers, 
and such acquaintance is distinctly an aid to the agricultural 
course, both in attracting sons of farmers to it, and in securing co- 
operative interest from farm owners. It may lead to subordination 
of the teacher's interest in teaching to that in community work. 
Several teachers objected to required supervision of projects on the 
ground that it interfered with work among the farmers. Others 
held that the project was a most useful instrument to extension 
teaching. Through interest in his son they reached the farmer, 
by more frequent visits they became well acquainted with him and 
his problems, and were able to give and to receive more aid among 
the few thus reached than by a more cursory acquaintance with a 
greater number. 

In itself the extension work presents a large educational problem, 
that is beyond the scope of this paper. It is to be noted, however, 
that it is not of necessity educative. One teacher reported with 
pride that he had repaired for the farmers of his county eighty-nine 
binders during the year. Whenever a farmer's binder broke down, 
he telephoned to the teacher to come out and mend it. The infer- 
ence is obvious. In Minnesota the instructor is required to give 
one-fourth or more of his time to extension, projects are likely to 
be unsupervised. In Massachusetts no extension requirement is 
set. Supervision of required projects is made law. 



CORRELATION. See Table 31 

Attempts at making common bonds between the divisions of pro- 
ductive agriculture and other subjects in the course for students 
in agriculture are reported in only half the schools. Where agri- 
cultural 'bias' was said to be given to any subject or where it was 
given a distinct appellation, as 'Agricultural Botany', the fact is 
recorded in the table. Botany, zoology, arithmetic, chemistry, and 
English are the most frequently noted. Relatively the adaptation 
is much more frequent in the special schools than in the high schools. 
The modification of English, however, is commonly restricted to 
the short courses, since modification in the regular course is fatal 
to high school credit. 

The degree to which modification takes place is uncertain. In 
lessons observed the reported 'bias' was frequently imperceptible. 
As an instance one high school teacher who reported enthusiastically, 
"Yes, I tie up all my work with the agriculture," gave a lesson on 
the endogenous stem, at which the visitor was present. The day 
was hot and the windows open. Just out of reach the grass grew 
a foot in height. Across the road some hundred feet distant the 
corn stood in green rows. But the center of the study was a dia- 
gram of the stem of the palm tree. Another made his lesson in 
Farm Arithmetic a drill in solving problems all of one type, like 
this: "What number diminished by seventeen per cent, of itself is 
166?" Another, who reported his chemistry as close to agriculture, 
was drilling his class in the writing of equations such as 2 NaCL-j- 
H2SO4 = Na2S04 + 2 H CL. Except as the chosen text carries an 
agricultural selection, differentiation in teaching is not marked. 

On the other hand, one teacher, who apologized for seeming to 
neglect the pure science aspect of chemistry in a particular lesson, 
excused his emphasis upon the salts of ammonia and nitric acid on 
the ground that the boys might find a knowledge of them useful. 
Some suggestions of the closer correlations achieved has already 
been noted under Course of Study. 

Correlation between work in laboratory and that in recitation or 
lecture is ordinarily very remote in time, and frequently in sub- 
stance. A class which spends half a period in recitation upon the 



122 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

capillary water of the soil may give half the term to soils experi- 
ments in the matter, and the present work of the laboratory and 
the classroom be weeks or months apart in relation to one another. 
The following of set outlines of experiments in order is responsible 
for the remoteness in time, the selection of experiments with regard 
to convenience of demonstration rather than importance of the 
matter demonstrated is probably responsible for much of the re- 
moteness in subject matter. Definite selection, however, is made, 
that the work of classroom and laboratory may bear a meaningful 
relation to one another in fourteen schools. The method of accom- 
plishment is usually demonstration by the teachers (compare 
Table 29). 

The subject matter of class study and the outdoor work seem to 
have no necessary correlation with one another. The one is deter- 
mined by the text, the other by seasonal convenience or farm 
demand. However, in six schools definite attempt is made to 
bring outdoor work and classroom study into close relation, both 
in time and in substance. All but one of these receive state aid for 
agriculture on the home project basis. Eight schools, all working 
on the home project plan, succeed in bringing about a close relation 
in content between class study and field work, though the two 
remain far apart in time. Such schools study the details of the 
'project' at one season, perform the work at another. A class 
studies all the details of lettuce growing in October, and plants its 
lettuce in April or May. 

So long as the text dominates in the classroom while the realities 
of season and location dominate outdoors the remoteness of these 
two factors in the teaching of meanings will remain. No more 
marked weakness in agricultural teaching exists. And the inclu- 
sion of project schools in the group undoubtedly makes the showing 
here better than the normal. 



ADJUSTMENTS 

To Seasonal Requirements 

In analysis of the organization of the course of study the fre- 
quency of adaptation to season, in particular of the crop subjects 
has been noted. In the outdoor work a more common adaptation 
may be expected, and is found. In Table 32 it will be noted that 
all but five of the fifty schools have made a definite selection of 
outdoor work in accordance with seasonal requirements. In seven 
high schools and one special school the dominance of the 'subject' 
has been set aside, and the outdoor work planned by season. For 
instance, in the fall all outdoor work is concerned with harvesting, 
hill selection, or the study of varieties in the field. 

Adjustments to Local Demand 

A study of the productive subjects, in so far as it is complete 
with reference to the content of 'the subject' agriculture, almost 
of necessity touches in some phase upon those features of local 
farming that are important, but that accidental impingement may 
not result in emphasis being given to such phases. Dominance by 
the subject in this fashion has been designated by inclusion under 
the caption Slight in Table 32. 

Yet where the dominance of the 'subject' is on the whole very 
marked, the intelligence of instructors may result in emphasis upon 
the points of particular importance in local farming. Twenty-two 
high schools and four special schools do make such emphasis in par- 
ticular divisions according to the character of local farming. Dairy- 
ing, where such is an important local industry, receives special 
emphasis in fourteen high schools and three special schools, Fruit 
Growing in ten high schools and one special school, Poultry in four 
high schools. Gardening in one high school, Forestry in one. Road 
Building in one. Drainage in one. Corn Growing in two high schools 
and one special school. 

When the 'agriculture' represents a definite organization with 
respect to the characteristics of local production, schools have 
been grouped under the caption Marked. Six high schools and two 



124 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

special schools have been included. In two of the high schools 
selection of topics has been made wholly with regard to what, after 
preliminary survey, have been determined as local interests. Not 
only are divisions of subject matter of local interest emphasized, 
but such as are not of immediate local interest are omitted from 
the program. 

In this table it is worth noting that local adaptation is a feature 
of schools state aided, most of which are organized on the project 
basis; that it is not a feature of the unaided high schools, or of the 
state schools, with their large units of community service. Indeed, 
a swapping of courses among the state schools would not materially 
interfere with their usefulness. With two exceptions, a change of 
location among the special schools would call for no material 
changes. Their course is based upon the needs of 'the subject', 
and, as has been noted, is an approximation to the agricultural 
college course, in respect, at least, to the productive side. 

Other Adjustments 

Particular adjustments of course and method have been noted 
throughout the study. The hobby or specialty of the teacher may 
effect selection and emphasis. This was a marked feature in two 
cases. In one, the teacher, whose only adequate knowledge lay in 
the field of market gardening, imposed the study of that topic 
almost to the exclusion of others, in a remote dairy region. In 
another, the teacher began his course with the study of Farm 
Management. 

Definite selection and emphasis upon topics chosen because of 
their adaptations to the needs of local progress appeared in two 
schools. In both cases dairying was a dying business in the locality, 
though general; fruit growing a promising business, though rare. 

In at least three schools the principal effort of the instructor 
seemed to lie in the direction of producing materials for exhibition 
and advertisement. In each case the camera was an important 
adjunct to the agricultural equipment. 

One city high school requires of its students three months of 
farm labor some time during the four years in order to graduate. 

A town high school in which about half the agricultural students 
enter after Thanksgiving and leave early in the spring, has devised 
a scheme of quarterly alternation of topics, so that such students 
may receive complete subjects. Students entering in September 



Adjustments 125 

last fall studied corn during the first quarter, late entrants joined 
them in the study of small grains during the second quarter. Next 
fall September entrants will spend the first quarter on small grains, 
late entrants will join them in the study of corn in the second 
quarter. Thus, without duplicating classes, the short term boy 
covers the subject of Farm Crops in two years, the full term boy in 
one year. Recurrent treatment is not common, but adjustment to 
that need is found in the plan of the course of study in several of 
the special schools. Diversification and intensification of special 
topic study follow the general elementary treatment of the first 
year. 

The director of a philanthropic school, in which farm work by 
assignment constitutes the major part of agricultural training, had 
noted that the daily tasks lacked the inspiration of direct motive 
and tended to a tedium far from educative. As a means of over- 
coming this difficulty, he proposed to make it incumbent upon each 
teacher to call together his class before the beginning of daily work 
and to explain to them the purpose of the task, the opportunities 
for acquirement of skill and knowledge in it, and its meaning with 
relation to the management of the farm as a whole. The plan was 
not yet in effect, but the making of it is significant as recognition 
of the need for motive and organization in outdoor work. 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL APPLICATIONS 

The study has given some glimpses of the ways in which schools 
have sought to adjust their means to the ends of agricultural edu- 
cation. What shall be taught and how it shall be taught are the 
larger questions that they have sought to answer. In general, they 
may be said to be in some measure of agreement with regard to 
answers to both questions, particularly the first. That which shall 
be taught is the more or less formally organized content of science 
with respect to production handed down by the agricultural col- 
leges, along with the more fully standardized content of academic 
subjects selected by the high schools under college dominance. 
That content shall be taught, in part, at least, through the use of 
text-books and lectures, and the question and answer recitation 
method of the high school. Yet the variation in attempts at organi- 
zation and modification of method in the contact of teacher and 
pupil reveal the fact that the solution is by no means 'standardized' 
for the agricultural course, and that active intelligence on the part 
of teachers and supervising bodies is at work to the determination 
of closer adjustments to the needs of pupil and community. 

The factors that make for determination of content, organization, 
and method in the secondary course in agriculture may be classed 
as social factors, psychological factors, and miscellaneous factors of 
expediency due to physical and administrative situations in large 
part. But the classification is not easily made satisfactory. The 
terms used are not wholly disparate, and the factors distribute 
themselves under one or more heads in nearly all cases. But the 
attempt is made for the sake of organic treatment to consider some 
of the factors resultant in the agricultural course, under that 
arbitrary system. 

The aim of the agricultural course has been seen to be variant, 
with a predominance of the vocational aim. In the state-aided and 
special schools in particular, education for farming rather than 
education for the farmer seems to be the prevailing concept. The 
economic aspects of rural life rather than the diversified activities 
of rural society as unified in the farmer have served to the determina- 
tion of aim. As has been noted in previous discussion this fact is 



Discussion of General Applications 127 

not wholly fortunate. Yet to this fact is due, probably, in no small 
measure, the success of the agricultural course. The content of the 
so-called science of agriculture has to do at present almost wholly 
with production. Thus, for the vocational aim, an organized 
selection of productive principles is at hand. Yet, even in this 
organized body of knowledge selection toward the end of control of 
production is not yet closely enough adaptive to the needs of voca- 
tional agriculture in the secondary school. Much that is irrelevant 
or remote to control is included in the content of productive agri- 
cultural subjects. If the accepted content is to be made of most 
use in respect to its aim a closer study of relative values is necessary, 
and a rejection of superfluous material by the criterion of utility 
in control over the processes of production. 

If the aim be to enable the student to gain a knowledge of farm 
life sufficient to intelligent choice of farming as an occupation, then 
the scale of values becomes different. No longer is it a first necessity 
to give that knowledge which leads to profitable control of plant 
and animal life. Rather the appreciative aspect, both emotional 
and intellectual, becomes dominant. What it is that makes the 
life of a farmer worth the living rather than what makes that life 
possible should be taught. But little hint of the difference appears 
in the schools of the study. The same content, somewhat abbre- 
viated and somewhat more academic, is found under the prevoca- 
tional aim. 

If the aim be preparation for the life of the farmer, then the 
curriculum as a whole must be subjected to evaluation in the light 
of the needs of the individual and society in a rural environment. 
It is assumed that provision is made under this evaluation for the 
farm boy by the inclusion of those subjects in his course which the 
city boy studies. After all, says the traditionalist, the lad is a 
human like the city boy. If his vocation be provided for, in other 
respects his needs are the same. We can pass without considera- 
tion the question whether or no the organization of the academic 
work be suited to the needs of the city boy. It does not follow that 
it is adapted to the life of the farmer outside his vocation. He lives 
in an environment in many respects widely at variance from that 
of the city dweller, both in its physical and its social aspects. More 
study, such as is now being made by students of rural sociology, is 
necessary to the determination of social values in the curricula of the 
secondary school for country boys. In the light of such knowledge, 



/ 

128 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

a new set of values should come to determine the selection and 
organization of subject matter in the course. But again the aim is 
apparently ineffective to the determination of content. The same 
agriculture is taught whether the aim be vocational, prevocational, 
preparation for country life, liberalizing, or 'cultural'. 

Even in the productive aspects of agricultural study much is to 
be found that leads to enlarged appreciation and enjoyment of the 
activities of life both in business and in leisure. Selection that 
ignores these values leaves unfilled a large gap in the scheme of 
education of a future country man. He is a man and socius even 
in the acts of production. Not all of 'culture' is to be lugged in 
by its academic ears. 

But on the productive side, more immediately, selection is largely 
determinate in the light of local conditions of farming, present and 
prospective. That farming which exists in the community possesses 
at least a 'survival value'. It is a solution of evolving problems 
'standardized' in the present. As such it has received and should 
receive the attention of the course maker. On the social side it may 
determine the probable situation of the emergent student. If not, 
it may be justified pedagogically as a factor in selection. Whatever 
the future seat of activity of the pupil may be, his present home 
and community situation furnishes the concrete means to learning 
of the principles that shall control in his future activity wherever 
it may be. Further the present adjustment of farming to local 
conditions is the basis upon which a new adjustment must be 
founded. The line of progress is most nearly indicated by the trend 
of local variation. That educator who would set aside, in the 
prescience of his own training, the facts of local adjustment is in- 
cautious. Selection in the light of progress must not be a priori 
but a posteriori. Better farming tomorrow shall come out of the 
farming of today. 

As to what proportion of 'subjects' in the course for the farm 
boy should bear upon productioji, any arbitrary standard is likely 
to prove futile. It is probable that in the case of the prevocational 
aim production will play a smaller part in the course than where the 
aim is vocational. The allotment of one-half the course to produc- 
tive subjects does not seem excessive in the vocational schools, 
though no measure of results is available for determination. The 
teacher and the pupil are determining factors at present. A bright 
farm boy may learn more of the science of production in a single 



Discussion of General Applications 129 

unit than a city boy in twice the allotment, and a poor teacher may 
make the work all vain. Division into subjects is unreal and arbi- 
trary, allotment of specified limitations to subjects still more so. 
Only experience can give us a norm. At present, a minimum of 
four units in vocational agriculture seems to prevail, with a trend 
to increase in the allotment. 

The present lack of correlation between the productive agricul- 
tural and other subjects of the course is but an indication of the 
futility of arbitrary division. When the pupil is taught in the terms 
of his own life and with reference to the satisfaction of his own 
needs there will be fewer worries over the disproportionate share of 
school time allotted to the teacher of agriculture. 

On the psychological side, age, home training, and school prepara- 
ation are important factors in the determination of method. It is 
these that give the boy his basis for learning in the secondary 
school. Grouping by virtue of previous school training is found 
in the special agricultural schools, the usual plan being to allow the 
boy more advanced in school rating the opportunity to proceed 
more rapidly to the conclusion of his course. He may devote more 
of his time to 'agriculture', and even proceed at a more rapid gait 
through his 'subjects'. With high school training of some sort, 
as with a greater maturity, he is more likely to be subjected to the 
lecture method of instruction than the younger or less prepared 
boy. In view of his probably greater experience the words of the 
lecturer may carry to him more meaning than to the boy less well 
founded in experience, but that the lecture method is to find its 
justification upon such grounds is to be doubted. However, a com- 
parison of method between the high school and the special school 
group carries the implication that it is so justified in the minds of 
teachers. 

The distinction between the city boys and the farm bred boys is 
one commonly recognized by teachers in conversation, if very 
seldom in practice. The most complete recognition of group differ- 
ences is found in one of the 'year round' philanthropic schools. 
There the city boy must enter in March and work on the farm over 
summer in order to win his promotion at the end of the year; the 
farm bred boy may enter in October and complete his studies with 
the city entrant of March. Other modifications of procedure have 
been mentioned. 

In the ordinary schools the problem is one of exceeding difBculty. 



130 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

With a fixed system of class teaching, a school year limited to the 
months in which production of crops is at a standstill, an equip- 
ment inadequate to the provision of farm experience for the city 
lad, and an overburdened teacher, the distinction between groups 
may well seem hopeless, A provision that special schools in some 
places be kept open for city boys throughout the year, or the ar- 
rangement of the course for city boys to carry over summers, while 
that for farm boys carries over winter might solve the difficulty in 
special instances. In the high schools the adoption of the required 
project under supervision seems the most successful adjustment in 
sight. A mere requirement of a brief, unsupervised and unchecked 
period of farm labor some time during the course is hardly likely to 
solve the problem. But definite selection in outdoor activities, 
such as has been noted in assignments of farm tasks to city boys, 
and the specific treatment of cases under individual teaching, are well 
worth while. The academic method so prevalent in the classroom 
must result largely in waste of time for the city boy. Even to the 
country lad in its common abstractness it may be of little meaning. 

Provision for motive is a matter of individual psychology. What 
serves to rouse one lad may bore another. But there are motives 
of wide application. The commonest of these is the motive of gain. 
There is nothing dishonorable in the use of this motive. Talk of 
appealing to the 'loftier instincts' is fatuous. 'Lofty' may be 
synonymous with remote and unreachable. Certainly the motive 
of academic agriculture is 'lofty' enough by that measure, even 
though it be professedly economic. To attempt to reach the boy 
through interest in his own welfare is not to display an apologetic 
weakness. Rather it is a revelation of social and pedagogic insight 
worthy of the best of teachers. The success of the home project is 
due very much to the selection of motive. 

In the home project again may appear motive based on the mere 
love of doing, the instincts of curiosity and manipulation. But an 
unapplauded and isolated doing is not in itself sufficient in all cases 
to carry a project forward. The reported lack of success in unsuper- 
vised projects is, perhaps, as much due to lack of satisfaction in the 
approval and interest of another as to lack of criticism and instruc- 
tion. But the value of consecutive activities not too prolonged is 
hardly to be doubted. The interest and even delight of certain 
classes in shop work and farm mechanics was in marked contrast 
with the attitude of the same classes in recitation. 



Discussion of General Applications 131 

Too little effort, however, seems to be made to appeal to the 
native interests of the boy in the organization of the course of 
study and the method of class teaching. The determination of 
sequence, apart from modifications due to seasonal and local de- 
mand, is ordinarily according to the matured psychology of the 
adult mind, that has organized the 'subject', already known, in 
relations conducive to a unity of grasp. That is, the sequence is 
according to the scientific order, proceeding from the physically 
simple to the physically complex, from the inorganic to the higher 
organic complexities. But it is questionable that there exists one 
organization of the body of agricultural knowledge which is the 
only scientific and logical organization. To proceed from the soil 
to the plant, from the plant to the animal, from the animal to man 
is certainly scientific, but it is no more scientific than an organiza- 
tion that begins with the relations of man to the animal, of the 
animal to the plant, of the plant to the soil, or than one which 
relates man to the plant, to the animal, to the soil. Scientific 
Agriculture is an organized body of knowledge dealing with the 
applications of pure science to the control of the energy of plants 
and animals for the uses of man. In terms of energy it centers 
about the photo-synthetic process, yet it deals with a cycle of storage 
and release of solar energy from end product to end product, as 
exemplified in CO2 and H2O. The cycle is complete. It has neither 
a beginning nor an end, like the circumference of a circle. In 
agriculture it centers about the needs of man. Where, then, we 
choose an end point is a matter of convenience or interest and 
not a matter of scientific necessity. From the point of view of a 
psychological organization the procedure of the learner and the 
learned are to be distinguished. The organization of retention is 
not necessarily that of acquirement. 

Indeed it is hardly to be doubted that the organization of the 
'subject' in the mind of the most hardened of professors of agri- 
culture is not that by which he acquired the organization. Learn- 
ing is through interest and activity. Interest and activity are 
native. The first interest is in that which concerns the learner. 
Recognition of the fact appears in the use of the economic motive. 
But it can hardly be said that agriculture becomes unscientific if 
learned in its relations to man. In fact it ceases to be agriculture 
where not studied in those relations. 

But, setting aside the motive of self interest, it is normally true 



132 Organization and Method in A gricultiire in Secondary Schools 

that the boy is more Hkely to find interest in the living, moving 
animal, than in the living, moveless plant, and in the plant than in 
the apparently inert soil. In a broad generalization it may be said 
that the psychological sequence is not far from the reverse of the 
so-called logical. The boy who desires pocket money may find in 
that desire the motive to study the dairy cow, through the dairy 
cow motive to the study of feeds, through feeds motive to the study 
of crops, through crops to the study of soil. To set the study of 
the soil as the necessary first prerequisite to the earning of pocket 
money by the sale of milk is to remove the motive as far as possible. 
That the scientific development of the 'subject' is such as to 
require remoteness is not to be conceded. It is quite as scientific 
to begin the study of agriculture with milk as with water, of zoology 
with the cockroach, as with the amoeba. 

The argument is sometimes put forward that the first rule of 
pedagogy is to proceed from the simple to the complex, from the 
concrete to the abstract. From the chemical angle CaCN2 is more 
simple than the albumen of the egg. Physically, the rock particle 
of the soil more concrete than the marketing of a bushel of potatoes. 
But, in terms of experience the statements can be reversed. Imme- 
diacy of physical contact is no warrant of intimacy of experience. 
The soil upon which we walk may have a less meaning in terms of 
experience than the nest of the young swallows the cat caught last 
summer. Method in agricultural teaching is not to be determined 
by repetition of terms, but by the realities of experience. 

On the side of expediency, both organization and method are 
modified by such factors as equipment, the demands of high school 
and college 'credit', the requirements of the state and of the text- 
books. Both are limited by the distribution of the teacher's time 
among varied duties, and the ability of the teacher. 

The adoption of the home project has done much toward solu- 
tion of the difficulties due to lack of equipment, but much is yet 
to be done in provision of adequate library facilities. Expendi- 
tures for annual increments to the stock of agricultural reference 
books need not be large. Probably what is now spent for set texts 
is nearly as great an annual sum as need be set aside for reference 
books under a problem method of procedure. 

The use of texts is not as a rule formally required in the agri- 
cultural subjects. If it be, the text may be made a servant rather 
than a master, by the teacher who has the ambition to be free. 



Discussion of General Applications 133 

Modifications due to the incubus of text are not necessary modifi- 
cations. 

So long as preparation of the few is to dominate the course and 
method for the many, the requirements of high school and college 
'credit' are factors seriously to be reckoned with. That teacher 
or educator who sets the education of the pupil above the require- 
ments of tradition risks his professional life, if he makes sure his 
intellectual salvation. But the organizer and teacher of the agri- 
cultural course have not the excuse of the principal and teacher in 
the standardized high school subjects. Their work is newer, its 
content and its method not yet so hopelessly crystallized, its aim 
less vague. That the tendency exists toward standardization of 
the course of study for farm boys along lines made familiar by the 
college entrance requirements and other soporific influences is un- 
fortunate. The working out of an organization and method cor- 
relate to an aim based on the needs of the individual in a rural 
community, if successfully done, may suffice to the breaking of the 
crust of tradition. No man in the field of education has greater 
opportunity for service than the teacher of agriculture. 

Those in charge of the work of secondary agricultural education 
under grants of state aid seem generally alive to the fact that suc- 
cessful adjustment of school means is to come through trial and 
rejection by teachers in the field. However rigid the requirements 
they have laid down appear, they can be regarded only as tentative. 
No single teacher who had demonstrated the efificacy or apparent 
efficacy of a variation in organization or method reported rejection 
by central authority. The function of these officers is to aid rather 
than to prescribe. Most of them are keenly aware of it. They 
have put forward prescriptions with the idea of aiding, and they 
do not stand stupidly in the way of progress. That they have 
aided in many if not most cases, is probable. But the same cannot 
be said of all prescriptions. When the state manual stands as the 
orthodox bible of all teachers who would survive, a real obstruction 
blocks the way of the teacher of agriculture. 

That the more or less educative schemes put forward by agents 
and professors in agriculture in agricultural education have been of 
help is due, perhaps, to the general brief experience and lack of 
pedagogical training on the part of teachers of agriculture. As a 
group these men are as well paid and as well prepared in the subject 
matter of their work as any group of secondary school teachers, 



1 34 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

probably better. But that some of them are really teaching boys 
instead of expounding agriculture is due to the use of organization 
and method under a home project scheme, evolved by others, rather 
than to their own initiative. That some few of them are doing 
work of excellent character is due to their initiative in modifying 
proposals that have merely helped others. In the hands of such 
men lies the solution of the problem of education for the farm boy. 
Their number can be increased by careful training in education of 
agricultural college students. With release of their energies by a 
more selective distribution of specific duties, an adequate allowance 
of time on a two or three period basis, and a tenure that shall 
include the months of the growing season, we may hope for closer 
adaptation of means to ends than now exists. 

GOOD ORGANIZATION AND METHOD IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHING AGRICUL- 
TURE CONSIST IN 

I. Selection of problems according to 

A. Social factors of 

1. Local demand 

2. Demands of progress 

3. Type representation (scope) 

4. Continuity of expansion (correlation) 

B. Physical factors of 

1. Local opportunity 

2. Seasonal determination 

C. Psychological factors of 

1. Immediate activity 

2. Apperceptive basis in the pupil in terms of 

a. Native interests 

b. Age 

c. Farm, village, or urban experience 

d. School experience 

e. Present life 

1. In the community 

2. In the home 

3. In the school 

4. On the farm 

II. Selection of the teacher in terms of 

1. Farm experience 

2. Technological training in Agriculture 

3. Teaching experience 

4. Pedagogical training 

5. Personality 



Discussion of General Applications 135 

III. Selection of equipment in terms of simplest adaptation to the problem 

1. Tools for energizing accomplishment 

2. Stock for productive use 
For comparative use 

3. Land for responsible production 

4. Books to answer questions 

5. Laboratory materials to answer questions 



APPENDIX 



EXTENT OF THE MOVEMENT TO TEACH AGRICUL- 
TURE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

The data on the following pages are not to be regarded as com- 
plete. They have been made up from various sources: Letters 
from state agents and superintendents, school directories, teachers' 
directories, and the digest of state laws published by the United 
States Bureau of Education. The compilation serves at least to 
show the wide distribution and the considerable number of schools 
engaged in the work. 





High Schools 


County 
Vocational 
Agriculture 


State 
Vocational 
Agriculture 


Special 
District 
Schools 




State 


No 
Special 


Special 
Aid 


Form of Special Aid 




Aid 


Schools 


Schools 






Alabama 


54 








II 




Arkansas 










4 




California 


37 












Connecticut 


5 












Florida 


3 












Georgia 










11 




Idaho 


29 












Illinois 


70 












Indiana 


8ooi 


4 








s maintenance 


Iowa 


525 












Kansas 


441 






I 






Maine 




IS 








J500 


Maryland 




i6 








$400 


Massachusetts 




13 


3 






f salary 


Michigan 


50 




2 








Minnesota 




176 




3 




$1000 


Missouri 


330 












Montana 




3 








$10 per pupil 


Nebraska 




23 








K maintenance to I1250 


Nevada 















New Hampshire 


25 












New Jersey 


45 












New York 




64 




4 




f to 3 salary 


North Dakota 


43 


5 








$2020 


North Carolina 


15 












Oregon 


6 












Oklahoma 










6 




Pennsylvania 




25 








f maintenance to f 5000 


Rhode Island 















South Dakota 


26 












Texas 




145 








yi maintenance, $soo-$iSoo 


Vermont 




II 




2 




All or K or 4 of $200 


Virginia 


II 












West Virginia 


15 












\A'isconsin 


2 




9 






$250 


Washington 














Total 


2530 


Soo 


14 


10 


32 


12 



» 'About.' 



s No data. 



Extent of the Movement 



137 



^O -2 



03 



ro CO 





< 


ro M w 





d 


HH HH 





oj 


HH »-4 





C 
C 


■sh fO « 


« „ 




hH hH 


CO CO 


S 


C) (S 





■6 

c 


(N M w 


c 


-d 
S 


M h-l 







M c^ 


»-) hH 


1-^ 





« 


2 


C^ w 00 


»-t ^^ 




CO fO 


P» M W M 


> 


N W l-H 


M 1-1 


K 
Z 


CO i-i N 







N c^ 





c 

n) 

C 

'to 

Q 

a 

3 


ii 




J£ -fi -S <£ -c 03 

C/) •►!: 0(/} '^-S >C (Uo ,_ 

E U H K U c>2 <: < UQ ^(n 

N cj c^ '^ lA N;i 
^ '^ ^ ^ T^ ^ rq 


be 5 A ^ 

< (/I CD CJ Cl, &H 



138 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 









■<A. 






^ 






m ■ c^ 





< 


CO l-H 


w 


6^ 








<a 








c 
c 

i 


^ rO M 


« « 


to 


HH l-( 


fC ro 


s 










l-H HH 





-6 


HH hH 







<^ M 


h-( W 












ON w 00 


H-( M 


05 


fO ro 


N W M 


> 





H-t »H 


K 
^ 










fN 0) 





c 
_o 

"35 

(U 

Q 
a 

D 

I- 




° .y 

c — < 

^ -C -M <£ -C • rt 
^^Q^E -g.ii-35 S 

I U HEUc>)<<UQh^c/) 

S C\J ro '^ 'A *0 


J 8 « c « a 

< If) {!n U cu CL, 
pq pq cq cq !o 



Extent of the Movement 



139 



Table III. — Showing distribution of schools according to location 

Small cities, 7000-20,000 population 
Towns, 1000-6000 population 
Villages less than 1000 population 



Group Designation 


Large 
City 


Subur- 
ban 


Small 
City 


Town 


Village 


Open 
Country 


A. High Schools 

Ai. City High Schools 

A2. Town or District 
High Schools 

A3. County High Schools 

A4. Approved Academics 

A5. Congressional 
District 

A6. Junior High Schools 


I 
I 


4 
2 

2 


5 
5 


IS 

12 
I 

2 


9 

5 

I 

2 

I 


5 

I 
3 

2 


State Aid for 
Agriculture 


I 


3 


I 


9 


4 


2 


B. Agricultural Schools 
Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory 





2 
I 

I 


I 
I 


2 

I 
I 


3 
2 
I 


2 

I 
I 
I 



1 40 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

Table IV. — Showing expressed aims of Agricultural courses as given by 
principals and teachers 

Others aims expressed: 

To reach the boy — two town High Schools 

To dignify manual labor — Preparatory School 



Group Designation 


Voca- 
tional 


Prac- 
tical 


Country 
Living 


Prevoca- 
tional 


Liberal- 
izing or 
Cultural 


College 
Prepar- 
atory 


Citizen- 
ship 


A. High Schools 

Ai. City High Schools 

A2. Town or District High 
Schools 

A3. County High Schools 
A4. Approved Academies 
As. Congressional District 
A6. Junior High Schools 


23 
4 

16 

I 
2 


9 
2 

4 
3 

I 


S 

I 

4 


6 
3 

I 
2 


3 

I 

I 
I 


4 
3 

I 


r 

I 


Receiving State Aid for 
Agriculture 


19 


5 


I 





I 


I 





B. Agricultural Schools 
Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory School 


10 
3 

4 
3 

I 








r 
I 


I 
I 
I 


2 

I 
r 



Extent of the Movement 



141 






8 



s § S 

s e ^ S ■=■ 

'^ "S f« "5 'U 

•^ ^ '^ ^ -S 

»^ 'I "> .1:^ R 

"^ ^ 2 £,J 

>^ ^ , 10 

i -^^ -§ 
Co s S § S 
m a w ^ .§ 



■^ -« ^ 



< 








c V. 

u 

K 


N M 


t^ « f«3 N 


1^" 


00 rt r<5 „ 






2-S 
132 
£■■3 


IT) M 





> 

3 


t. 

a) J= 


10 fO « „ 


*-< M tH 


•a D 
-a M 


ON r-5 „ M CO 


Ov n •>* N 














f<5 M (M Tf 


ro Tt ro H 



> 


"3 


0-, 


Ov n N "^ 


ro tt fo M 


XI 


to <u 


"^ M ^ 


f<5 tt fO w 




41 


•^ n •^ 


Oi f*5 Tt ro M 






t^ ro .^ 


fO Tt ro M 


> 

3 


M i 60 

e c 
■C PQ 'g 

W S S 


M 10 















c 
.0 

ca 
c 

_M 

<u 
Q 

a 
3 


u 




bfl m (n 

_" s 1 1 1 ^ 

1 1 ;§ -: s 1 
■i c^ -1 -s ^ 1 :s 

1 § "2 S ^ 1 £ 

• '2 'i IV) rj. 1/^ y^ 

^ "^ ^ 'C -5; ^ 'i; 


■3 


S 2 S 

•g i! § ^ a 

60 5 2 £ 

<j; w u A, fe 
cq CQ 0) cq 



142 Organization and Method in A gricultii re in Secondary Schools 






■?^' 



Ti 


g 


S H 


'^ 


-i' 


^ 




CO 


cxo 


fc« 


1 


^ 


.8 


1 


§ , 


g 


a 


<s 




>E^ 1 


1 




1 




rfl 




> 


< 


> > 


U 




W n 


^ 




ri c 


n 




« H 


< 




<: 


H 




H 



o K 

in o 


M « 


t~ n N M 


o o> 

o ■* 


ro M N 


M 




■* ■sj- 




o •* 


ro ro 


M h-t 


O Oi 


■* M n 


M 


O Ov 

n to 


(ON M 




o o> 


lO N M w 




O Oi 

M IH 


00 iO ^ M 




M Ov 


m M H M ro 




o o 


N M M 






ro ro >0 w ro 


O ro ■* ro M 




M lO fO 1-1 N 




11 
c 
o 


\r, (M N M 




o ^ 
O ft 


"1 rr H 


vO N CO M 




M Tt lO fO 


M M w 




t~ Tt- O MM M 
M M 




c 
o 


W M r<5 




a 
.2 

Id 

a 

M 

P 

ft 

3 

£ 


1j -3 J i J2 
^ ■- o g vs o 

5 ^ Si S -o -i j^ 

-i; ^ r- ^ ^ ^ ^ 


O 

J2 

1 1 1 

.y (i> c rt g, 

< W U fc Ct, 

•-.■ tvj fn . 
CQ cq K) B3 O 



Extent of the Movement 

Table VII 

Distribidion of Titles of Reference Books 



143 





Number 


Regular 




Titles 


Text 


Historical, Foreign Agriculture, Inspirational, etc. 


15 





Farm Plant Life 


10 


I 


Elementary and General Agriculture 


37 


12 


Agronomy 


9 


2 


Soils and Manures 


43 


7 


Farm Crops 


44 


5 


Horticulture 


19 


3 


Floriculture 


12 





Fruit Growing 


37 


4 


Forestry 


30 


3 


Insects and Diseases 


34 


4 


Weeds 


7 





Animal Husbandry 


24 


5 


Breeds and Breeding 


26 


4 


Feeds and Feeding 


16 


6 


Veterinary Science 


18 


2 


Dairying 


29 


7 


Poultry 


35 


5 


Farm Management 


19 


6 


Rural Social Conditions 


29 





Rural Sanitation 


10 





Farm Buildings 


8 





Rural Schools and Education 


II 





Agricultural Chemistry 


9 


2 


Agricultural Physics 


2 


I 


Special English 


5 


3 


Farm Arithmetic 


4 


2 


Farm Engineering, Mechanics and Shop 


45 


4 


Farm Drawing 


7 


I 


General Science 


5 


I 



144 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 
Table VIII — Reference Books 

GENERAL AGRICULTURE 



Author 



Halligan 

Ferguson & Heath 
Voorhees 
Jackson & Daugh- 

erty 
Goff & Mayne 
A. D. & E. W. 

Wilson 
Bailey 
Bailey 

Mayne & Hatch 
Waters 
Warren 
Brooks 

Wilkinson 

Fisher and Cotton 

Mann 

Burkett, Stevens, 

and Hill 
Call and Schafer 



Title 



Fundamentals of Agriculture 
Principles of Agriculture 
First Principles of Agriculture 
Agriculture through the School and 

Home Garden 
First Principles of Agriculture 

Agriculture for Young Folks 

Principles of Agriculture 

Am. Encyclopaedia of Agriculture 

High School Agriculture 

Essentials of Agriculture 

Elements of Agriculture 

Agriculture 

Practical Agriculture 
Agriculture for Schools 
Beginnings in Agriculture 

Agriculture for Beginners 
Laboratory Manual of Agriculture 



Publisher 



Heath 

Ferguson Publishing Co. 

Silver-Burdette 

O. Judd Co. 

American Book Co. 

Webb 

Macmillan 

American Book Co. 

Ginn 

Macmillan 

Home Correspondence 

School 
American Book Co. 

Macmillan 



Ginn 
Macmillan 



Refer- 
ence 


Text 


7 


2 


4 


I 


5 





7 





II 


I 


5 





10 





10 





4 


I 


3 


2 


15 


7 


S 


4 


S 


I 


5 





13 


6 


12 





4 


I 



AGRONOMY 



Clute 

Van Slyke 

Hunt and Burkett 



Agronomy 

Fertilizers and Crops 
Soils and Crops 



Ginn 
O. Judd 
O. Judd 



9 





11 


2 


10 


3 



Lyon and Fippin 


Soils and Soil Management 


Macmillan 


IS 


2 


17 


King 


The Soil 


Macmillan 


14 


I 


15 


Roberts 


The Fertility of the Land 


Macmillan 


10 





10 


Voorhees 


Fertilizers 


Macmillan 


i8 


5 


23 


Fletcher 


Soils 


Doubleday-Page 


2 


S 


7 


Snyder 


Soils and Fertilizers 


Macmillan 


12 


2 


14 


Whitson and 












Walster 


Soils and Soil Fertility 


Webb 


12 


9 


21 


Hilgard 


Soils 


Macmillan 


8 





8 


Vivian 


First Principles of Soil Fertility 


O. Judd 


8 


I 


9 


Hopkins 


Soil Fertility and Permanent Agri- 












culture 


Ginn 


IS 





15 


Hall 


The Soil 


Button 


6 





6 


Hall 


Manures and Fertilizers 


Dutton 


6 





6 


Elliott 


Practical Farm Drainage 


Wiley 


S 





5 



Extent of the Movement 
Table VIII — Continued 



145 



Author 


Title 


Publisher 


Refer- 
ence 


Text 


Total 


Bowman and 












Crossley 


Corn 




7 


I 


8 


Sargent 


The Corn Plants 




6 





6 


Montgomery 


The Corn Crops 


Macmillan 


7 





7 


Voorhees 


Forage Crops 


Macmillan 


5 





5 


Livingston 


Field Crops 


Macmillan 


12 





12 


Spillman 


Grasses 


0. Judd 


8 





8 


Hunt 


Cereals of America 


0. Judd 


15 


2 


17 


Hunt 


Forage and Fibre Crops 


0. Judd 


17 


I 


iS 


Wilson and 












Warburton 


Farm Crops 


Webb 


II 


17 


28 


Shaw 


Clovers 




S 





3 


Coburn 


Book of Alfalfa 


0. Judd 


II 





II 


Fraser 


The Potato 


0. Judd 


14 





14 


Grubb and Guilford 


The Potato 


Doubleday-Page 


II 





II 


Shaw 


Soiling Crops and the Silo 


0. Judd 


5 





5 


Dondlinger 


The Book of Wheat 


0. Judd 


8 





8 


My rick 


The Book of Corn 


0. Judd 


5 





5 


Lyon and Mont- 












gomery 


Examining and Grading Grains 


Ginn 


6 





6 



HORTICULTURE 



Bailey 


The Farm and Garden Rule Book 


Macmillan 


8 





8 


Bailey 


Plant Breeding 


Macmillan 


6 





6 


Taft 


Greenhouse Construction 


0. Judd 


3 


2 


5 


Bailey 


American Encyclopaedia of Horti- 












culture 


Macmillan 


7 





7 


Green 


Vegetable Gardening 


Webb 


6 


2 


8 


Bailey 


Principles of Vegetable Gardening 


Macmillan 


II 





II 


Lloyd 


Productive Vegetable Gardening 


Lippincott 


9 


6 


15 


Watts 


Vegetable Gardening 


0. Judd 


6 


2 


8 


Bailey 


Manual of Gardening 


Macmillan 


S 


I 


6 


Bailey 


Garden Making 


Macmillan 


6 





6 


Beach 


Apples of New York 


New York State Experi- 












ment Station 


10 





10 


Bailey 


The Nursery Book 


Macmillan 


7 





7 


Sears 


Productive Orcharding 


Lippincott 


12 


9 


21 


Green 


Popular Fruit Growing 


Webb 


15 


9 


24 


Bailey 


The Principles of Fruit Growing 


Macmillan 


19 


I 


20 


Card 


Bush Fruits 


Macmillan 


IS 





15 


Waugh 


Fruit, Harvesting and Marketing 


0. Judd 


9 





Q 


Bailey 


The Pruning Book 


Macmillan 


II 





II 


Waugh 


The American Apple Orchard 


0. Judd 


10 





10 


Thomas 


The American Fruit Culturist 




S 





5 


Waugh 


Systematic Pomology 


0. Judd 


S 





5 


Hedrick 


Grapes of New York 


New York State Experi- 












ment Station 


6 





6 



146 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

Table VIII — Continued 

FORESTRY 



Author 


Title 


Publisher 


Refer- 
ence 


Text 


Total 


Cheyney and 
Wentling 


The Farm Woodlot 


Macmillan 


3 


2 


5 



CONTROL OF PESTS 



Sanderson 


Insect Pests 




12 





12 


Smith 


Economic Entomology 


Lippincott 


S 





5 


Chittenden 


Insects Injurious to Vegetation 




5 





5 


Comstock 


A Manual of Insects 




7 





7 


Weed 


Farm Friends and Foes 


Heath 


6 





6 


Lodeman 


The Spraying of Plants 


Macmillan 


7 





7 


Duggar 


Fungous Diseases of Plants 


Ginn 


13 


I 


14 


Georgia 


A Manual of Weeds 
Farm Weeds 


Macmillan 

Ontario Department of 


7 





7 






Agriculture 


S 





5 



ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 



Harper 


Animal Husbandry for Schools 


Macmillan 


7 


7 


14 


Harper 


Manual of Farm Animals 


Macmillan 


8 


I 


9 


Plumb 


Beginnings in Animal Husbandry 


Webb 


8 


10 


18 


Craig 


Judging Live Stock 




II 


2 


13 


Day 


Productive Swine Husbandry 


Lippincott 


8 





8 


Davenport 


Principles of Breeding 


Ginn 


12 





12 


Marshall 


The Breeding of Animals 


Breeder's Gazette 


3 


3 


6 


Shaw 


The Breeding of Animals 


0. Judd 


5 





5 


Plumb 


Types and Breeds of Farm Animals 


Ginn 


16 


S 


21 


Shaw 


The Study of Breeds 


0. Judd 


7 


I 


8 


Davenport 


Domestic Animals and Plants 


Ginn 


3 


2 


5 


Johnston 


Book of the Horse 




7 





7 


Coburn 


Swine in America 


0. Judd 


8 





8 


Saunders 


Short Horn Cattle 




5 





5 


Roberts 


The Horse 


Macmillan 


8 





8 


Gay 


Productive Horse Husbandry 


Lippincott 


7 





7 


Henry 


Feeds and Feeding 


Author 


17 


3 


20 


Jordan 


Feeding Animals 


Macmillan 


13 


r 


14 


Woll 


Productive Animal Feeding 


Lippincott 


4 


2 


6 


Smith 


Profitable Stock Feeding 




3 


S 


6 


Shaw 


Management and Feeding of Cattle 
Diseases of the Horse 


United States Bureau of 


5 





5 






Animal Industry 


7 





7 




Diseases of Cattle 


United States Bureau of 












Animal Industry 


6 





6 


Reynolds 


Veterinary Studies 


Macmillan 


S 


2 


7 


Mayo 


Diseases of Animals 


Macmillan 


8 





8 



Extent of the Movement 
Table VIII — Continued 

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 



147 



Author 


Title 


Publisher 


Refer- 
ence 


Text 


Total 


Eckles 


Dairy Cattle 


Macmillan 


7 





7 


Corn 


Dairy Bacteriology 




14 





14 


Michels 


Dairy Farming 




4 


2 


6 


Martin 


Dairy Laboratory Guide 




5 





5 


Van Slyke 


Testing Milk and Its Products 




6 


I 


7 


Wing 


Milk and Its Products 


Macmillan 


13 


S 


18 


Farrington and 












Well 


Milk Testing 




9 


3 


12 


McKay and 












Larsen 


Buttermaking 




3 


2 


5 



Watson 


Farm Poultry 


Macmillan 


10 


3 


13 


Robinson 


Principles and Practice of Poultry 












Culture 


Ginn 


16 


I 


17 


Lewis 


Productive Poultry Husbandry 


Lippincott 


18 


8 


26 


Brigham 


Progressive Poultry Keeping 




8 


I 





Valentine 


How to Keep Hens for Profit 
American Standard of Perfection 


Macmillan 

American Poultry Asso- 


10 





10 






ciation 


7 





7 


Lewis 


Poultry Laboratory Guide 


Macmillan 


6 





6 


Lippincott 


Poultry Production 




4 


3 


7 



FARM MANAGEMENT 



Carver 


Rural Economics 


Ginn 


5 


I 


6 


Bexell and Nichols 


Farm Accounting 




5 


I 


6 


Taylor 


Introduction to Agricultural Eco- 












nomics 


Macmillan 


8 





8 


Card 


Farm Management 


Doubleday-Page 


6 


I 


9 


Warren 


Farm Management 


Macmillan 


14 


9 


23 


Boss 


Farm Management 




3 


3 


6 


Warren and Liver- 


Laboratory Manual of Farm Man- 










more 


agement 


Macmillan 


S 


2 


7 


Hunt 


How to Choose a Farm 


Macmillan 


6 





6 



FARM MECHANICS 



Davidson and 












Chase 


Farm Machinery and Farm Motors 


0. Judd 


13 





13 


Davidson 


Agricultural Engineering 


Webb 


7 


6 


13 


Cobleigh 


Handy Farm Devices 




5 





5 


Brace and Mayne 


Farm Shop Work 




6 


I 


7 



148 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 
Table VIII — Contmtied 



MISCELLANEOUS 



Author 



Snyder 

King 

Roberts 

Bailey 

Lipman 

Johnson 

Osterhout 



Title 



Chemistry of Plant and Animal Life 

The Physics of Agriculture 

The Farmers' Business Handbook 

The State and the Farm 

Bacteria and Country Life 

How Crops Grow 

Experiments with Plants 



Publisher 



Macmillan 

Macmillan 
Macmillan 

O. Judd 
Macmillan 



Refer- 
ence 


Text 


6 


2 


12 


I 


10 





5 





7 


2 


5 





5 






Total 






.•^ 

! s 

^ s 

^ - c:) 

^ o ^ 

»> a S 

S -S ■'^ 

S 4. "^ 

-^ -5^ t 

V k s 

_, <a s 

.^o S ^ 

S "^ "^ 

§ t i 

9^ -^ - 



g 8 I 



S .8 



^1 ^ 



50 



<0 



■^ ?^ ^ 






-« 



Extent of the Movement 



149 



o S 

o 

2 S 















■* 1-1 r^j 



^ 00 N 



»0 N (N 



O Oi ro 00 N 



X 



.a 'C ^ 

P m O 

T3 U — 



H OT 



I cq cq CQ Ki 



150 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 



S?'^ o 



eio Q 






^ 



X 



w 










l-( 




1 












Q 


lO 


r. 


" 






M 


1 


" 


N 








U 


o> 


ro 


Ov 


". 


" 


fO 


"1 


M 


ro 


-O 


- 


>- 


CQ 


a 


ro 


« 




" 




1 


:; 


M- 


M- 


"* 







rl 


(/) 


< 


3 


S 




0) 












3 


(/J 


bi 

< 


"3 


P3 







CN 


IN 


2 3 




- « 


. . 


S" 




M M 


M 


Sec- 
ondary 
School 


C^ M M 


M 


Grad- 
uate 
Stu- 
dent 


M IH 





O IN PO fO 



vO (>1 t-< fO 



00 00 i> ro 



> 


M- 


" 




- 












n 


M 




" 






■* 




-t 




^ 


ro 


vO 


^ 


" 


ro 


tH 


M M 




ro 


" 


- 




















IB >T< 



J* _y I, -2 



a nl 
ex u 



•— — "O *-'T*CJ ^U M*;^ ^JT 

ffi OwHi:c«Uw<:<oQ 



< w w O Ph P< 



CQ tt) cq o 



Extent of the Movement 



151 



Table XI. — Showing range of salaries paid to 406 teachers of Agriculture in Iowa 
high schools, receiving no aid from the state, salaries of iig men teachers who have 
been students at agricultural colleges or universities of which agricultural colleges are 
a part, salaries of fifty-eight teachers of Agriculture, and salaries of fourteen women 
teachers attendant at agricultural colleges or universities of which agricultural colleges 
are a part. 

Computed frotn the Iowa State Educational Directory, 191 5. 





All Teachers of 
Agriculture 


Men Having 
Some Agricul- 
tural College 
Preparation 


Women Teach- 
ers of Agri- 
culture 


Women Hav- 
ing Some Agri- 
cultural Col- 
lege Train- 
ing 


400- 449 


2 


I 








450- 499 


15 


I 


5 


I 


500- 549 


8 


2 


5 





550- 599 


18 


2 


12 


2 


600- 649 


14 


2 


7 





650- 699 


29 


5 


II 


4 


700- 749 


24 


5 


6 


2 


750- 799 


31 


5 


4 


2 


800- 849 


34 


8 


I 





850- 899 


17 


5 








900- 949 


61 


16 


4 


I 


950- 999 


17 


2 


I 





I 000- I 049 


41 


17 








I 050- I 099 


8 


2 


I 


I 


1100-1149 


23 


6 








1150-1199 


5 


3 








1200-1249 


27 


13 








1250-1299 


9 


6 








I 300- I 349 


9 


4 








1350-1399 


9 


4 








I 400- I 449 


5 


3 








1450-1499 










1 500-1 549 


4 


3 








I 550-1 599 














I 600- I 649 


5 


4 


I 


I 


I 650- I 699 


I 











1700 


I 












In the statement of preparation the length of agricultural college training is not given. A state 
university officer has informed the writer that such preparation in the majority of cases means 
only summer school attendance. 



152 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

Salaries of teachers of Agriculture in state-aided schools of New York, IQ15. 
Academic 

Number receiving 





Year 


Summer 


Total 


I 


I750 


200 


$950 


2 


800 


200 


1000 


I 


850 


200 


1050 


II 


900 


200 


IIOO 


21 


1000 


200 


1200 


2 


1050 


200 


1250 


I 


1075 


200 


1275 


8 


IIOO 


200 


1300 


2 


1 150 


200 


1350 


5 


1200 


200 


1400 


6 


1300 


200 


1500 


I 


1400 


200 


1600 



61 

Return of salaries of instructors in Agriculture for 136 state-aided high schools in 
Minnesota in fall ofigij. [By courtesy of Division of Agricultural Education, Univer- 
sity of Minnesota.] 

Number Receiving Salary 

6 $1000 

II IIOO 

4 1 150 

43 1200 

10 1250 

15 1300 

7 I 300- I 400 
15 1400 

3 1450 

15 1500 

6 I 600-1 850 

Classification of fifty-nine teachers of Agriculture in state-aided high schools of 
New York, 1915, by colleges or schools in which agricultural training was received 

New York State College of Agriculture 38 

College of Agriculture, Syracuse University 3 

Massachusetts Agricultural College 2 

Michigan Agricultural College 2 

Pennsylvania State College ' i 

Cortland Normal School (New York) 6 

New York State School of Agriculture, Canton, New York 4 

New York State School of Agriculture, Alfred, New York 3 

59 



Extent of the Movement 1 53 

Number of schools in New York receiving state aid for Agriculture in 

1911-1912 16 

1912-1913 25 

1913-1914 34 

1914-1915 45 

1915-1916 64 

Number of high schools in Massachusetts receiving state aid for Agriculture: 

1911 I 

1912 2 

1913 9 

1914 10 

1915 13 



1 54 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 
Table XII. — Showing distribution of salaries of seventy-seven teachers 



Group Designation 


I500 
599 


I600 
699 


$700 
799 


I800 
899 


$900 
999 


$1000 
1099 


IlIOO 

1 199 


$1200 
1299 


$1300 
1399 


$1400 
1499 


lisoo 
1599 


$1600 
1699 


A. High Schools 

Ai. City High 
Schools 

A2. Town or District 
High Schools 

A3. County High 
Schools 

A4. Approved Acad- 
emies 

As- Congressional 
District 

A6. Junior High 
Schools 


I 

I 


I 
I 


I 
I 


2 

I 
I 


7 
I 
2 

I 
2 

I 


2 
2 


2 

I 
I 


5 
3 
I 

I 


7 
I 
6 


4 
4 


4 

I 
I 
I 

I 


I 


B. Agricultural 
Schools 

Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory 








I 

I 




2 

I 

I 


2 
2 


2 
2 


2 
2 


I 
I 


4 
4 


3 

I 

2 

I 



Group Designation 


J1700 
1799 


I1800 
1899 


J2000 
2099 


S2100 
2199 


S2200 
2299 


$2300 
2399 


S2400 
2499 


J2600 
2699 


S2700 
2799 


J3000 


S3 1 SO 


$5000 


A . High Schools 

Ai. City High 
Schools 

A2. Town or District 
High Schools 

A3. County High 
Schools 

A4. Approved Acad- 
emies 

As. Congressional 
District 

A6. Junior High 
Schools 


I 
I 


2 

I 
I 


2 

I 
I 


I 

I 


















B. Agricultural 
Schools 

Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory 


I 
I 


3 

I 
2 


4 

2 
2 




I 
I 


I 

I 


I 


I 
I 


2 

I 

I 


I 
I 


I 

I 


I 
I 



Extent of the Movement 155 

Table XIII. — Showing percentage of farm boys in agricultural courses 



Group Designation 



9 


10 

19 


20 
29 


30 
39 


40 
49 


SO 
59 


60 
69 


70 
79 


80 
89 


90 
100 


A. High Schools 

Ai. City High Schools 

A2. Town or District 
High Schools 

A3. County High 
Schools 

A4. Approved 
Academies 

A 5. Congressional 
District 

A6. Junior High 
Schools 


3 
3 


I 
I 


I 
I 


3 

2 

I 


I 
I 


4 
4 


4 

I 

3 


4 
3 

I 


S 
3 

2 


13 
I 

4 

2 

3 

2 

I 


B. Agricultural 
Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory 


2 
2 




I 

I 






I 
I 




I 

I 

I 


I 
I 


4 
2 
2 



Table XIV. — Showing ages of boys in agricultural courses in thirty-eight schools 



Group Designation 


Over 14 
Under is 


Over IS 
Under i6 


Over 16 

Under 17 


Over 17 

Under 18 


Over 18 
Under 19 


Over 19 


A. 


High Schools 


2 


10 


10 


3 


2 


I 


Ai. 


City High Schools 




2 


4 


I 






A2. 


Town or District High Schools 


I 


6 


S 








A3. 


County High Schools 




I 










A4. 


Approved Academies 




I 


I 


2 






As. 


Congressional District 










2 


I 


A6. 


Junior High Schools 


I 












B. 


Agricultural Schools 






I 


I 


I 


S 


Bi. 


State 












3 


B2. 


County 








I 


I 




B3. 


Philanthropic 






I 






2 


C. 


Preparatory 












I 



1 56 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 
Table XV. — Showing units in Agriculture offered in schools of Group A 



Group Designation 


K 


I 


I'A 


2 


2M 


3 


3K 


4 


4K 


5 


6 


8 


A. High Schools 


I 


I 


I 


4 


I 


I 


I 


12 


I 


^ 


10 


5 


Ai. City High 
Schools 




I 




2 




I 




3 






I 




A2. Town or District 
High Schools 








I 


I> 






3 


I 


I' 


8 


S 


A3- County High 
Schools 


I 




I 










I 










A4, Approved 
Academies 
















2 




I 


I 




A5. Congressional 
District 














I 


3 










A6. Junior High 
Schools 








r 



















Table XVI. — Showing distribution of Group A, according to units of 
Agriculture offered and state aid 





No Aid 2 


State Aid for Agriculture 


State Support 




































I 


2 


4 


5 


6 


2 


2K 


3 


4 


4M 


6 


8 


K 


iH 


3% 


4 


A. High Schools 


I 


2 


4 


2 


I 


I 


I 


I 


5 


I 


9 


5 


I 


I 


1 


3 


Ai. City High 
Schools 


I 


I 


2 






I 




I 


I 




I 












A2. Town or Dis- 
trict High 
Schools 






2 


I 






I 




I 


I 


8 


5 










A3. County High 
Schools 


















I 








I 


I 






A4. Approved 
Academies 








I 


I 








2 
















A 5. Congressional 
District 






























I 


3 


A6. Junior High 
Schools 




I 































' Appears in High Schools and Vocational Departments. 

2 One Vermont school receiving only $66.67 from the state for Agriculture is included. 



Extent of the Movement 



157 



M 

C 

•5 



m 


'a 
3 


Ov M ■* rt 


Ov n CO ro M 


Receiv- 
ing State 
Aid 


0> •* so f«5 N ■* 


Ov ro ■* <M 


c 








. 


<u 


10 




tH 







n fo 


M 


J2 

1 




rO M M M 


M M 


1 


00 


■* ro M 


H 1-1 


1 




„ 




1 



n 


00 Tj- U1 f) cs rl- M 


N MM 








M 


^ 
S 
^ 


m 




M M 




•* 




M 1-1 




" 




M. M 


> 


. 




in MP) M 


>< 


ro 




1- MM N M 


> 


•* 


Ov 00 0. ro ■* "* M 


ro t») 


1^ 


Ov CO Ov fO •* ■* 11 


« •* r«5 w 






c 
£f 
1) 
Q 
a 
3 





5^ Q|S -oS-S ;!= 
t/1 hr'.S 0[/) -^.2! > a Do ,^ 

^ ?.§ 1^ 1 2-S ^H .2 8 
;y .^-g 1;^ g-5 gg g.| §-g 

►4 tvj t^ 4 "^ vi 
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 


J. 

111. Ill 1 

»-^ Pvl <^ 

cq cq Ki H5 u 



158 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 









t^ 



"ts 



p* 
^ 



> 



< 



00 -o 



w fa 









ifl 10 



t ^ 



53 >, 

<u 

>, -o 

M o 

u o 
;- 11 



2i 

D 

"3 




'S 


3] 


^ M 


10 f«5 N 


^ 


1^ CO " W 01 




" 


M MM 




c 



w 


to M MM 


. 


fa 




- 




ro 


^O r< M f<5 

• 




N 


M M 


ro C) M 


" 


ro ro 


N MM 


a 
2 
U 

E 
fa 


12 


w 






:^ 


ro (VI M -t 


M 


" 


t^ M ro M N 


N M M M 


g 


w 


n CM M 


M 


^ 




n r) MM 


fa 


00 ro "N fO 


M „ 


1m 


•* 











M M 


M 


fO M M ■^ 


Tj- (S M 


W 


Ov ■* PI to 


Tf to MM 


£•3 
w < 


to 

'E 


X 


OH N « M 


f) M MM 


M 


\0 M M ro M 


P) MM 




H 


t^ M r<5 « M Tf M 


Tj- M M N M 


( 




n 
if 

Q 




A. High Schools 
Ai. City High 

Schools 
A2. Town or Dis- 
trict High 

Schools 
A3. County High 

Schools 
A4. Approved 

Academies 
As. Congressional 

District 
A6. Junior High 

Schools 


B. Agricultural 

Schools 
Bi. State 
B2. County 
Bj. Philanthropic 
C Preparatory 



Extent of the Movement 



159 



Table 'Kl'K.— Showing distribution by years of Soils, Farm Crops, Animal Hus- 
bandry, Farm Management, Vegetable Gardening, Fruit Growing, Farm Mechanics, 
Dairying, Poultry, in seventeen proposed courses found in state manuals or other 
publications dealing with four-year courses in Agriculture for high schools. 





Year 


Year 


Year 


Year 


Topic 


I 


2 


3 


4 


Soils 


5 


4 


I 


4 


Farm Crops 


2 


10 


5 





Animal Husbandry 





5 


9 


I 


Farm Management 











13 


Vegetables 


5 


4 


2 


I 


Fruit Growing 


I 


4 


6 


3 


Farm Mechanics 


I 





I 


ID 


Dairying 





4 


10 


I 


Poultry 


3 


I 


6 


2 



1 60 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 



S 13 

(2^ 



to 






<xo H to 

I 






CI 

(I4 


'S 


u 


n (-) 


M M 


^ 


w w 




^ 


ro N M 


M W 


c 


g 


w 


ro M M 1-1 


MM M 


^ 




» 


fe 


., 




> 


Ti- 


ro n 




ro 


« « 


M M 


(S 




« 


" 


M 


M „ 


s 


'c 


i^ 


" 


fO N 1-1 


^\ 


10 N M ro 


^O 1-1 ro P) 


w 


t^ N M w 




c 


nJ 


t/i 


" 


Tj- M ro w 


^ 


M N 


N M M 


fe 


n N 


r< M 1-1 




TT 


^, 


W M 


n 


C-) o« 




r. 




Tj- N N 


" 


00 M M rf 


i;)- M 11 N 


a 


c 



M 

< 


"a 


^ 


W M 




i?< 


„ „ 


M M 


- 


ro (MM 


1-1 M 


^ 


0. M 00 






d 


(A 




M 


^ 




M M 


fc 






1-1 

g 
> 


rO 




M 


c 


M OV 




" 


Tt H <S W 


M M 




n 


c 

Q 

a 
3 

S 





A. High Schools 

^/. City High Schools 

A2. Town or District High 
Schools 

A3. County High Schools 

A4. Approved Academies 

As. Congressional District 

A6. Junior High Schools 


B. Agricultural Schools 
Br. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory 



Extent of the Movement 



i6i 



dJ I- •? 






























M Si 2 






























2 a-§ 

(11 c u 


t^ 


IS 


00 







CO 
t-t 


" 


vO 




n 


ro 








> 3 W 






























<'Z,^ 






























o 






























a 






























o 






























































r^ 


00 


t^ 




-0 


■* 


N 


vO 




N 


ro 




M 





'C 





























C> 
































'3 






























Z 






























& 






























■♦-» 


Tf 


^ 


t^ 


N 


ro 


^ 




CO 






M 


M 




01 


■3 




n 
























































H 


Ph 






























a 

































00 


t^ 


Tf 





i-i 


n 














M 





J3 


•"• 


ro 


N 


C* 




















N 


w 






























M 



\n 


'O 


HI 







Oi 




i-t 












^ 






M 


<S 


r<5 


" 


" 
















•-^ 


^ <U 






























S S 


vO 


t^ 


•* 


fO 





Ov 


CI 


rj- 


M 













« ,=1 




•"• 


*~* 


CO 




^ 
















"^ 


u 






























•3 .S 


CO 


N 





O 


00 


ro 







IH 


Tl- M M 


„ 


« 


^ 




M 








M 
















Oi 


Q 






























^■z 




ro 


•* 


t^ 





00 


CO 


c< 


~ 


N 


„ 




HH 


N 


Q u 








N 




« 













































*-^ 


CI 


r^ 





T 


fO 





~ 








N 


« N 


M 


„ 


o> 


w 




























































•-H 


X 






























•a S 






























C 






























d "^ 




























Oi 




00 


>o 




00 


t^ 




CO 







CO 


\r, 




I> H t-l 





m cd 






'-' 


w 




M 
















»-H 


11 






























<u 


t^ 


vO 






-0 


r^ 














W 


■^ 


s 




"* 


N 


N 




















H 

































•s 


V, 


n 


CO 


T 


T 


o> 




ro 








„ 




o» 


M 


n 


ro 


c^ 




















•-. 


^ 




























►-1 


X) 






























C t, to 






























n i> & 
*j ^ p 
;- '" 


10 


•* 


00 


fO 


-0 


■^ 


" 

















to U 






























Dii 






























B 

3 

M 






























'- 


^ 


i? 




00 


2 


" 


"5 




" 


M 








OJ 






























J 






























=3 .S 


« 


n 


~ 


0\ 


ro 


0, 


~ 


~ 


00 


-o 


00 


c 




t^ 


E S 
















M 












*^ 




























H 


c« 






























c 


„ 


cs 


00 


00 


10 





N 


00 


■* 


V, e 


. ^ 


ro t^ 


l/^ 1-1 1-1 














M 








i-i 




M 


M 






Oj 


U 




























^ 


U 






























flj CO 

•^ ^ -^^ 
S s 






























IH 


M 


n 


■<t 


tn 





t^ 


00 





M N Tt 


IT) 


00 M ^ 00 























IH ^ 


H I-I M 




I-t <N (N N N n 





1 ^ 




























tH 



1 62 Organization and Method in A gricuUure in Secondary Schools 



cj 



<^ 






w fe 



— .S 
to ^ 



H fe 



M 

C 

1 

'3 






M M 


H M 


-^ 


10 N IN w 


r^ N M M M 


" 


Tt n M 


IT) N « 


c 


4J 


w 


ro " « 


M M 


^ 




M M 


fc. 


ro M Ohm 


Tl- N M H 


CS 

>< 


■* 


M H 


M M 


r<5 


^ H rO 


M H N H 


. 


. M 


ro M 01 


M 




M W 


bo 
_c 

'S 

4; 

3 

V 








ro M CN 


^ 


0\ t-* \0 H H 


■* N M H 


" 


Tj- M n 


M 




s 


w 


t- H Tf „ „ 


ro C* M M 


^ 






(X( 




M M 




^ 


M N 




CO 


M 


M 


N 


M- M ro 


fO N MM 


- 


>0 M Tt M 


"* M (N M 




c 


c 
.Sf 
11 
Q 

a 

3 

2 





A. High Schools 

A 7. City High Schools 

A2. Town or District 
High Schools 

A3. County High Schools 

A4. Approved Academies 

As. Congressional Dis- 
trict 

A6. Junior High Schools 


B. Agricultural Schools 
Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory 



Extent of the Movement 



163 



H fc 



"3 





'6 », 


M H 


"* fO H 




M P) 


M M 


i^ 


0\ M 00 


n N H 


" 


m n 




u 
a 

> 


tn 


M 


M M 


p) 


IN N 


ro W M N 


" 


ri w •-• 


rO M H N 


M 

C 

Q 


'2 




l-l M 


. 


:^ 


C^t M M 




X 


•N fO ^ ro M 


M „ 


M 




-* ■* M 


1-1 

> 


t 




M 


fO 




M 1-4 


. 


f* M ro MM 


•<t N N 


" 




fO IN 


>> 

u 

•0 
c 
a 

■m 

13 
E 
'c 
< 




m 






^ 


M 




:s; 


N Tj- N w (V) N 


M 


" 


Oi ro r<5 M M 


M M M M 


M 
il 
> 


■* 


M 




ro 


fO M ON 


M 


. 


00 •o in M •* ts 


" 


M 




IVJ M <N 




a 
_o 

la 
c 
.5f 
u 
P 
a 
3 
2 





A. High Schools 

Ai. City High Schools 

A2. Town or District High 
Schools 

A3. County High Schools 

A4. Approved Academies 

A 5. Congressional District 

A6. Junior High Schools 


B. Agricultural Schools 
Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory 



1 64 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 



^ 



8 -« 



^ ti; 



H (I, 



lao 


rt 


.8 




g 


>> "O 






r^ 


m 


^ 


iH 


1 


ta W 


> 




1— 1 




^ 




X 




u 




»j 




PQ 




< 




H 





60 

° i! 
3 .S 

5w 
a- 
S 2 
b5 
« 3 

60 
< 




^ 




•* « M IH 


X 


M t-t 
M t-t 


M 


" 


t^ M lO IH 


rj- tH r«3 


>< 


■* 




M 


m 


lO t-t 1^ t-1 




. 




10 (N <N M 


" 




C* M M 




E 

c 


2 

3 
Pi 




if^ 


M M 


^ 


fO (N t-1 




" 


tH t-l 


tH M 


1-1 
> 


't 


ro M IH 


t-t (S 


ro 






- 


M »H 




a 

a 

B 


1 


M 


M H 


Tf N W H 


^ 


M M 




:^ 


M ro 

tH 




^ 




IH IH 


is 


tH W 




M 


M IN Ov "H 

IH 


„ 




rf 


Tf -^ rf tH •<t tH 


ro fO 


n 


N M tH 


CO IH M tH 


c 




ro N tH 




B 
60 

S 

Q 

1 






A. High Schools 

Ai. City High Schools 

A2. Town or District High Schools 

A3. County High Schools 

A4. Approved Academies 

A5. Congressional District 

A6. Junior High Schools 


B. Agricultural Schools 
Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory 



Extent of the Movement 



165 



M 

a 
'Si 
•a 

M 

8 


■3 

t3. 




« N 


CO P) M 


CI 

>< 


fO 




PI 1-1 M 


IM 


PI P) 


U5 to PI 


t-t 




M M 


M 

a 
•5 

u 

CQ 


'S 


m 
^•2 




•* M W w 


u 

> 


n 




M M 


P) 




ro PI M 


■a 
m 


"a 
P 


S 






:^ 


p< PI 


Tt ro w 


> 


ro 




M M 


M 


N M 


IH H 


M 




ro PI 


•3 


"a 


^ 


M H 


•* M PI M 


X 


P» P) 


ro 11 1-1 H H 


u 

nj 

> 


■<t 




« 


fO 


po m 


M M 


<s 




PI f<5 M 




a 
.0 

1 

V 

P 
0. 

3 

£ 





"3 


•g 
w 

M m m 
S "3 .2 'C i2 
to * R •" 

1 1 - 1 e 1 

X! Q ? ^ .2 .£? 
■g .2f g * 1 ^ K 
r; . g e fc. M 

K U H u <; U 1^ 

i-; N tn <»■ "/^ ■<) 
'^ '^ ^5 -=1; '^ '^ ^ 


2 ^ 
-^ ix ■*-> " 

3 -M C *^ 

u u c ca S 

< c« U ft, &< 

>^ pi f"^ . 

0) 05 CQ CQ 



1 66 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

Table XXVI. — Showing distribution in Ornamental and Landscape 
Gardening and Forestry 



First year 





4 


Fall 








Second year 


3 





Winter 








Third year 


S 


5 


Spring 


S 


5 


Fourth year 


I 





Full year 





3 





Ornamental and Landscape 
Gardening 


Forestry 


Group Designation 


Year 


Units 


Year 


Sea- 
son 


Units 




2 


3 


4 


I 


K 


X or 
less 


I 


3 


S 


I 


K 


X or 
less 


A. High Schools 

Ai. City High 
Schools 

A2. Town or 

District High 
Schools 

A3. County High 
Schools 

A4. Approved 
Academies 

As. Congressional 
District 

A6. Junior High 
Schools 


2 
2 








2 
2 




2 
2 


2 
2 


I 
I 


I 

I 


3 
2 

I 




B. Agricultural 
Schools 

Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory 


I 

I 


4 
I 
2 
I 

I 


14 
2 

II 
I 
I 


2 
2 


I 

I 
2 

I 


3 

I 
I 


2 
2 


2 

I 

I 

I 


3 

I 
I 
I 
I 


I 
I 




3 
I 

I 
I 
I 



Extent of the Movement 



167 



Table XXVII. — Showing distribution by year and units of Carpentry, and 
Forgework or Blacksmithing 



First year 28 9 

Second year 9 8 



Third year 6 3 

Fourth year 4 2 









Carpentry 


Not 
Differen- 
tiated 
Manual 


Forgework or Blacksmithing 


Group 
Designation 




Year 




Units 


Year 


Units 












Train- 
ing 








I 


2 


3 


4 


iM 


I 


H 


M 


Kor 

less 


I 


2 


3 


4 


I 


K 


^ or 
less 


A. High 




































Schools 


21 


5 


3 


3 




3 


6 


9 


5 


5 


8 


3 


2 


2 


I 


4 


4 


Ai. City 




































High 




































Schools 


3 


2 








2 


I 


2 




3 


2 








I 


I 




A2. Town or 




































District 




































High 




































Schools 


II 












S 


4 


2 




3 












3 


A3. County 




































High 




































Schools 


2 
















2 


I 
















A4. Approved 




































Acade- 




































mies 


2 


I 


I 


I 




I 




I 




I 


I 










I 




A5. Congres- 




































sional 




































District 


3 


2 


2 


2 














2 


3 


2 


2 




2 


I 


A6. Junior 




































High 




































Schools 




































B. Agricul- 




































tural 




































Schools 


7 


4 


3 


I 


I 


2 




I 


3 




I 


S 


I 




I 


3 


2 


Bi. State 


3 


I 












I 


2 




I 


3 








I 


2 


B2. County 


3 


2 


1 


I 


I 


I 






I 






2 


I 




I 


2 




JBj. Philan- 




































thropic 


I 


I 


I 




I 


I 
























C. Prepara- 




































tory 






I 































1 68 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 
Table XXVIII. — Showing length of periods, arrangement of periods 





Length of Periods 
in Minutes 


Arrangement of Periods 


Group 
Designation 


30 


40 


45 


50 


60 


Single 
Period 


Four 
Single 


Three 
Single 


Double 
Labo- 
ratory 


All 
Triple 


All 




One 
Double 


Two 
Double 


Double 


A. High 
Schools 

Ai. City 
High 
Schools 

Az. Town or 
District 
High 
Schools 

A3. County 
High 
Schools 

A4. Approved 
Acade- 
mies 

A5. Congres- 
sional 
District 

A6. Junior 
High 
Schools 


I 
I 


31 
4 

18 

2 
3 
4 


5 

3 

I 
I 




2 
I 

I 

I 

I 
I 


8 

I 
2 
2 
3 


S 
2 

I 
I 

I 


7 

2 

3 

2 




3 
3 


16 
4 

II 

I 


B. Agricul- 
tural 
Schools 

Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philan- 
thropic 

C. Prepara- 

tory 




6 

I 
4 

r 


3 

2 

I 




2 

2 

I 






6 
3 
3 


2 

I 
I 





Extent of the Movement 



169 



s 



■■s. 









^ CO s 
c^ S 5>? 



^ S 



I ^ ^ 

i g S 

■^ , >~ 

S S "=" 



>ia 



J ^-^ 

I « 2 

<>2 -XJ ■:§ 



>< t 

m 

m 
< 



rt 
cd 


w (N w c« 




§1 


10 H M P) M 


M MM 


a 
3 
2 



fO H N 




■i. "to 

c 13 


r^ ^O vo M r*3 M 


Ov ro ■* P» 



2 


Oi vO 00 M ro M 


Oi ro ^ N 


il 


t^ 00 MM 


•0 -^ (^ 


a 

3 
a 


N H M 


n ro 


Lesson 
Plans 
Used 


fO " 1- W 


M M 


Super- 
vised 
Study 


T)- „ M 


M 


Topic 

Assign- 
ments 


M 10 10 N 


10 N M D M 


3 


<^ (,) *0 tH M M M 


^ c c, 


3 .0 


N W M 


no N M M 


1 s 


Os 00 0» f*5 *t -^ M 


ro ■* ro M 


II 


10 TJ- M 




H 3 


2 °0 >o ro ro "t M 


ro ■* fO M 


c 


2 a 

Q 


^ ^§ §^§ «8 2^ a-H 28 

M a xi >^xi 3^ g-ta e-S eS 

ffi uc^ e2-5c^ c3c5^ ^^ c35 II 

>-. N f^ Tt- u^ <^ 

'^ '^ '^ 'j: '^ 'i; ^ , 


s 1 & 
3 - S' c 2 

3 8 ii c 1 a 

< CO W CJ C^ Ph 
0) CQ Ki ttl 



1 70 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 



-« 








a 









• ^ 















•*-4 






VJ 


■<~^ 


tt> 


n 


K~> 






-xn 


•<A. 


«o 





•^ 



sr? -^ 



•^ -« ^ 






5^ 2"" 

Tt ,.s> ^ 






■^ 



■^ 



■ex. 



Co * 



X 

X 
X 

u 
•J 

a 
< 



8 a 


M -0 M M M 


a 


N M H 


(J 
2 

PL, 
V 

a 


X 


1 > 

'H 
i- 

a. 


10 M r<5 W 


t 




1 "^ T3 


-t "t W H 







„ 
'Z gS 

a 



t^ ro ro M 


« 




si 


CN M W 


:: 


M H M 


•a 
1 dj 
^ .is 
Oi 3 

cr 


M M 




N W M 


1 

1.4 




T3 
■3 



c 


2; 


M 






(2^ 


M ■* 




a M 't CO w 





00 M 10 W M 






SI 


M 




M M 


a 



01 

c 

2 


M 


r~ 


" 


§0.^ 

2 *^ e 

eu 11, 


t~ N M M M M 


10 


•0 N ro " 




00 CI ro i-< M 


n 




Corre- 
lated 
Projects 


H Ol M M 


00 


N H H 




a 


§'^ 
c 

Q 


>1. High Schools 

A I. City High 
Schools 

A2. Town or Dis- 
trict High 
Schools 

A3- County High 
Schools 

A 4. Approved 
Academies 

As. Congression- 
al District 

A6. Junior High 
Schools 


1- 
w ■< 


5. Agricultural 
Schools 

Bi. State 

B2. County 

Bj. Philan- 
thropic 

C. Preparatory 



Extent of the Movement 



171 






s ::?> 



f^ fe 



1-3 
a, ■" 


1 






M 


Is 

u 


" 


" 




> to 

- 






M M 


c2 ~ 


^ M 





■0 N N c-g 


■n V 
< E 


10 <S M M 


Tt 


■* M M N 


Gen. 
Sci- 
ence 


ro 1-1 M 


(^ 






t-t M 


" 


« M M 




M Mm 


" 


VO M M f) 


>. 

N 


t^ >0 i-i 


r-- 


ro M M M 


4;. >> 

C 


01 N 00 M w 





10 (S N M 





MO On (N n n 





« N M M 


Correlations Class- 
room and Labo- 
ratory 



u 


« n Tt M 


i^ 


ro fO M 




E 


^ "^ 10 M ro M 




M 


^ ro M 


E 

to 

II 

s^ •- 
u 


is 

a; .5 


\0 





tN MM 



U 


10 w n 


^ 


M 





E 


*+ -^ M ■'t -^ M 


M 


t^ fO ro M M 


a 



■* N N 







c 


.«) 

Q 
0, 
3 







i'l 

. >-' ^i N rf- "^ ^' 

^5 "^ ^ 'j; 'i; Mj ^5 


a .y 


1 Is" 
1^ -Is 

•H ii § J3 a 
<; Cfl M U Oi cu, 

H oi f^ , 



1 72 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 



Table XXXII. — Showing adjustment of outdoor work to season and selection of 
agricultural subject matter in regard to demands of locality 



Group Designation 


Season 


Locality 


None 


Definite 


Marked 


Slight 


Definite 


Marked 


A. High Schools 

A I. City High Schools 

A 2. Town or District 
High Schools 

A3- County High 
Schools 

A4. Approved Acade- 
mies 

As. Congressional 
District 

A6. Junior High 
Schools 


4 
3 

I 


28 
4 

13 

2 

4 

4 

I 


7 

I 

6 


3 
2 
2 

3 

I 


22 
3 

13 

I 

4 

I 


6 
2 

4- 


State Aid for 
Agriculture 





16 


6 


I 


16 


6 


B. Agricultural 
Schools 

Bi. State 

B2. County 

B3. Philanthropic 

C. Preparatory 


I 
I 


8 
2 
4 
2 
I 


I 
I 


4 
2 

2 


4 
I 
3 

I 


2 

I 
I 



EXHIBITS OF LESSONS 

LESSON IN FARM MECHANICS 

Gas Engines 

Eighteen boys worked in groups of three about six gas engines of 
different makes. Procedure consisted in taking apart the engine 
piece by piece, laying each carefully in a place assigned, then 
putting the engine together, starting and timing it. So the groups 
passed from engine to engine till all had been dismounted and set 
up again. Next the engines were taken apart, the pieces piled in 
indiscriminate heaps, and the round of reconstruction again accom- 
plished. Finally, all engines were dismounted and the parts from 
all piled together. Then each group must sort out and replace the 
parts of its particular engine, and set it to running smoothly once 
more. The completion of the full routine occupied laboratory 
periods during several weeks. 

LABORATORY EXERCISE IN FRUIT GROWING 

1. Draw an outline of a round, oblate, conical, ovate, oblong 
apple. 

2. Draw an acuminate cavity; an obtuse cavity. 

3. Draw a cross section of an apple having core lines meet- 
ing. 

4. Draw a cross section of an apple having core lines 
clasping. 

5. Draw a cone shaped calyx tube. 

6. Give definitions of the following: 

Calyx-lobes, skin-dots, closed core, open core, marginal 
stamens. 

Note. Laboratory exercises in fruit growing are more likely to 
be concerned with the identification of varieties or practice in the 
processes of graft propagation, or the preparation of spraying 
mixtures, than in work like that above. Nevertheless, the insistence 
here indicated upon the botanical structure of fruits, as well as of 
other parts of the plant is not uncommon. The utilitarian aspect is 
not emphasized in such work. 



1 74 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

LABORATORY LESSON IN FARM CROPS 
High School 

Every boy measured out ten cubic centimeters of oats from 
each of three samples, spread the samples upon clean paper, removed 
with a knife blade dirt, weed seeds, and chaff, and weighed again, 
to determine percentage of purity. During the sorting a smutty 
grain was discovered. This the teacher placed under a small micro- 
scope ; then summoned the boys to examine it. After all had taken 
a look at the whole grain, he split it with a knife, laid the halves 
under the microscope, and again called for examination. 

Finally he dictated the following questions, to be recorded and 
answered in the notebooks: 

1. Of what value is a purity test? 

2. Why must a purity test be made when you have grain for 

sale in this state? 

3. Where can you get a purity test made? 

4. Explain in full the value of this experiment to you. 

5. Compare the three samples as to their content of weed seeds, 

chaff, etc. Which is most valuable and why? 

A LESSON IN CORN JUDGING 

High School 

To every boy in the class was given a rack of ten ears of dent 
corn, and a printed score card. The boys spent the double period 
in scoring the individual ears, recording the score for each by its 
identification number. The following day the same racks were 
given out, and the boys, without the use of the score card or note- 
book, placed the ears in order of merit from right to left of the 
rack. When this placing had been completed notebooks were 
opened, placing of the previous day by score listed and the two 
sets of placings compared. 

EXERCISE IN THE DAIRY LABORATORY OF A COUNTY 
AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL 
Exercise 2. Milk Inspection 

Object: To determine the amount of adulteration in a suspected 
sample of milk. 

Method: There are two kinds of milk provided. One of the 
samples is chosen as a control sample, and the other has been 



Exhibits of Lessons 1 75 

adulterated by the addition of water. To find the amount of 
foreign water present, proceed as follows: Make a duplicate fat 
test of each sample. Take a lactometer reading of each sample 
and determine the S. N. F. present in each. 

Then substitute into the following formula: — 

S. N. F. of suspected sample x 100 

100 - 

S. N. F. legal standard 

The suspected sample should be easily recognized; the previous 
work in dairying should tell you this. 

Note. S. N. F. stands for Solids not Fat. 

student's plan for a bench hook 

High School 

1. Drawing of top view. 

2. Drawing of end view. 

3. Drawing of bottom cross piece. 

4. Drawing of top cross piece. 

Stock 

I piece white pine 7 /8" x 4>^" x 8>^" 
I piece white pine 7 /8" x i ^" x 4K" 
I piece white pine 7 /8" x i ^" x 4" 
4 screws i K", No. 8 

Tools 





Rule 




Plane 




Try square 




Brace and bit 




Marking gauge 




Screw driver 




Saw 










Operations 


I, 


Laying out 


8. 


Planing to length 


2. 


Surfacing one end 


9- 


Sawing to width 


3. 


Planing one edge 


10. 


Planing to width 


4. 


Squaring one end 


II. 


Making blocks 


5. 


Laying out width, length, 


12. 


Laying out screw holes 




and thickness 


13- 


Boring screw holes 


6. 


Planing to thickness 


14. 


Assembling 


7. 


Sawing to length 







1 76 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

LIST OF SHOP PROJECTS IN A COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL 



I. 


Bread board 


28. 


Ladders 


2. 


Bench hook 


29. 


Fence and gate 


3- 


Feeding trough for chicks 


30. 


Carpenters' tool box 


4- 


Bench 


31- 


Trapnest 


5- 


Milking stool 


32. 


Wheelbarrow 


6. 


Window screen 


33- 


Carpenters' work bench 


7- 


Nail and staple box 


34- 


Chicken brooder coop and run 


8. 


Bird house 


35- 


Wagon box 


9- 


Folding bench 


36. 


Ensilage rack for wagon 


10. 


Fly trap 


37- 


Wagon bed 


II. 


Chicken feed hopper 


38. 


Wagon box for wagon bed 


12. 


Clothes rack 


39- 


Wagon box 


13- 


Saw buck 


40. 


Stock rack 


14. 


Saw horse 


41. 


Flat hay rack 


15- 


Hive seat and tool box 


42. 


Grain bed 


16. 


Wagon pack 


43- 


Hay rack 


17. 


Roughage rack 


44- 


The farm shop 


18. 


Lawn seat 


45- 


Colony poultry house 


19- 


Fruit ladder or step ladder 


46. 


Portable hog house 


20. 


King road drag 


47- 


Pigeon house 


21. 


Planter 


48. 


Poultry house 


22. 


Stone boat 


49- 


Silo form 


23- 


Land leveler 


50- 


Corn crib 


24. 


General purpose sled 


51- 


Implement shed 


25- 


Swing farm gate 


52. 


Hog house 


26. 


Eveners and singletree 


53- 


Barn 


27. 


Two man weight carrier 







LESSON IN BUILDING A POULTRY HOUSE 

The floor of a forty-foot house had been laid, and the morning's 
task was in setting studding, laying plates, and cutting rafters. 
Two boys were assigned to laying off plates and studding, two to 
laying off and cutting rafters, and other groups, which did not 
rotate, to setting and spiking. The teacher stood aside, and did 
not interfere in any way. Several questions as to measurements 
he referred to the working drawings, which the class had pre- 
pared, and required verification by second measurement of all 
pencilings on the woodwork. So far did he refrain from sug- 
gestion or interference that rafter after rafter suffered from un- 
skillful sawing, when a bit of direction and caution might have 
been useful. 

The work went forward very busily and with little conflict of 
duties or delay. 



Exhibits of Lessons 177 

A LESSON IN POULTRY 
High School 

Teacher. Choose one breed from each class of poultry and discuss 
it from the point of view of size, form and disposition. 

Pupil made an excellent summary of the characteristics of the 
Light Brahmas, and a second began upon the Barred Rocks. He 
was interrupted by the obstreperous conduct of a white Wyandotte 
cock, tied up in a sack. The cock, rescued from the bag, was set 
up on the table, and criticized by the class as to form, color, and 
head points. Then the teacher listed the feathers by name, calling 
upon a boy to identify each group as it was named. When all had 
been so identified, every boy was called upon to show all classes of 
feathers in order, and to describe the distinctive features of each 
class. Finally the teacher showed the distribution of feathers in 
adjustment to muscular movements and protection. 

LESSON IN FENCING A HEN YARD 
High School 
Teacher and janitor spent the entire forenoon in setting posts 
for an enclosure of ^ acre of very uneven ground. In the afternoon 
for the first two periods the senior class grudgingly gave up the 
time 'for studying German for tomorrow's exam' to assisting in 
the wiring. To them the teacher gave occasional staccato orders 
but no instruction whatever. Two boys unrolled the wire, barking 
badly several young fruit trees in the process, and two were given 
hammer and staples. All corners were nailed by the janitor or the 
teacher. The attaching of the stretcher, a slow process, was per- 
formed by the janitor, the setting of braces by an interested neigh- 
bor, and the stretching itself by the janitor, the neighbor, and one 
boy. Two boys were ordered to stand on the wire to lower it, while 
the teacher drove the staples. The others ate apples and threw 
the cores at one another. At the end of the periods a group of 
second year students opened another roll of wire, and watched the 
janitor and teacher for eighty minutes. 

LESSON IN THE USE OF A MANURE SPREADER 

Philanthropic School 

Sixteen boys armed with manure forks, pitch forks, shovels, and 

a coal scoop repaired, with the instructor, to a large heap of horse 

manure, up to which the farm foreman had backed a spreader. In 



1 78 Organization and Method in Agriculture in Secondary Schools 

two minutes the class had filled the body ; whereupon the foreman 
drove off and spread the load. With the second load a boy was 
given the driver's seat, and instructed in the use of the feed lever. 
He then drove off, as had the foreman, chin on shoulder, in a mean- 
dering course across the field. No attention whatever was given to 
the matter of driving straight and turning properly. Every boy 
in his turn assumed so great a responsibility for the working of the 
gears that he could give little heed to his horses. The result was a 
ragged and uneven distribution of manure. 



AN EXCURSION IN FORESTRY 
High School 

Before starting, boys were directed to fetch their notebooks, for, 
"There will be a report called for, and you must take notes." When 
all had gathered, the teacher spoke as follows: — "Be very obser- 
vant. Take notes of the soil coverings, undergrowth, sod, litter of 
leaves, and see why it is difficult for seeds to take root. Pay atten- 
tion to pine trees because deciduous trees are common here and 
evergreens are not. Note the bark, branching, cones and needles. 
Note differences of those in pines, spruces and cedars." 

The excursion proved rather a wild frolic, some boys racing 
ahead, others dragging behind, doing 'stunts' and playing. The 
first stop was on a hillside where some cedars and arbor vitae grew. 
To the boys within hearing, the teacher pointed out the two species, 
leaving details of identification entirely to two or three of the 
faithful, who jotted down shape of needles in their books. About 
a mile further on a clump of white pines was found in the midst of 
birch and maple. Here the boys were somewhat interested in 
noting the differences of weight in dry limbs of pine and maple, in 
the presence of pitch in pine scars and in the large cones, but no 
mention was made of soil covering. A little further on some badly 
infected chestnut suckers were found. The teacher stopped to 
point out the appearance of chestnut bark disease, but most of the 
boys were too far away and too busy throwing stones to note the 
halt. The last halt was made under spruces planted in a farm yard. 
The boys collected fir cones but secured no needles because the 
yard was carefully raked and the trees trimmed high. On arrival 
at the school, the boys gathered about the faithful and copied their 
notes. 



Exhibits of Less sons 179 

A PROBLEM LESSON 

The pupils of a special school had planned a husking bee. To 
the class in Farm Crops, quite appropriately, the preparation for 
the husking was assigned. At the time of the visitor's arrival, the 
class was on its way to the machine shed in which the 'party' was 
to take place. 

The next move was to run out wagons and machinery. This 
done, the class gathered in one end of the shed for making of plans. 
Initiative remained with the boys for the most part. The first 
question raised was as to the number who would attend the husking, 
the next as to accommodating the number in the shed. The first 
was readily answered, the second called for thinking. Two boys 
paced off the dimensions of floor space to meet the first inquiry, 
then two sat down back to back while the others estimated the 
space they occupied. Then the problem became one of arrangement 
of the rows of corn in the shuck; should they run in short rows 
parallel with the end of the rectangular shed or lengthwise, with a 
maze formation. Considerable argument ensued before choice of 
the longitudinal arrangement prevailed, as that which provided the 
greater elbow room. 

Next the teacher asked, "Now what is the best way to get that 
corn in?" One boy suggested that, since the distance to shocks in 
the field was short, all get together after school and bring it in in 
wheelbarrows. But to this the majority demurred on the ground 
that they must be at home for work in the afternoon. Everyone 
volunteered to pay his share toward pulling ears and placing them 
in the shed, and it was voted to call on boarding pupils who were 
earning their way to do the work. Then came the question. How 
shall they be paid? Some suggested payment by the hour, others 
by amount of work done. The 'piece plan' prevailed on a vote, 
the bushel being chosen as a unit. 

The teacher's second question was: "How much are you going 
to pay a bushel?" Various prices, from two to ten cents, were 
suggested, nobody knew what a fair price might be. "How can we 
find out?" came as the third question. Out of this arose several 
vague suggestions, each of which was rejected as no better than 
guess work, till a boy put forth the following: "I guess we fellows 
are worth about ten cents an hour when we work our best. That 
is what most of us get when we work for pay. Now, if we all go 



1 80 Organization and Method in A griculture in Secondary Schools 

out to the corn rows and pull corn and lug it in for half an hour, we 
can figure out what is a fair price per bushel, by the result." On 
this plan class and instructor were hard at work, when the visitor 
left for another class meeting. 

Note. Against this lesson may be advanced the criticism that 
the knowledge acquired was hardly worth the effort involved. In 
favor of it, the criticism that the method involved is that of the 
real problem. The whole experience moved naturally in thought 
and action to the solution of no fictitious problem. It was in very 
marked contrast with the usual haphazard or rule of thumb pro- 
cedure in outdoor work. 





MASSACHUSETTS 


PROJECTS 




Vegetable Garden 


123 


Flowers 


2 


Poultry 




95 


Calves 


2 


Farm Crops 




83 


Steers 


I 


Orchard 




48 


Sheep 


I 


Dairy Cattle 




18 


Bees 


I 


Swine 




10 


Shrubs 


I 


Small Fruit 




6 







NEW YORK PROJECTS 



391 



Poultry 


352 


Bush and Small 




Potatoes 


126 


Fruits 


53 


Corn 


62 


Dairy Cattle 


39 


Garden 


81 


Other Farm 




Apples 


30 


Animals 


15 


Other Tree Fruits 


26 


Miscellaneous 


78 



862 



Means of transportation to home projects from 42 state-aided 
schools of New York, 191 5. 

Automobile 20 Livery 6 

Bicycle 10 Railroad 2 

Motorcycle 3 Boat I 

Horse (owned) 4 



Exhibits of Lessons i8i 

Transportation expenses. 

No. receiving: i $5. No. receiving: 9 $50. 

1 10. 3 75. 

2 15. 4 100. 

3 25. I 125. 
2 40. 

Board of Education furnishes: 

Automobile 4 Bicycle i 

Horse 2 Gasoline 3 

Plan of visits to projects at Concord High School. 
Summer : twice a week. 
Fall and Spring: as often as possible. 
Winter: once a month. 

Record of visits to nineteen home projects of pupils. 



1. of Project 


No. of Visits 


AT'o. of Project 


No. of Visits 


I 


22 


II 


25 


2 


36 


12 


31 


3 


21 


13 


17 


4 


27 


14 


25 


5 


25 


15 


26 


6 


27 


16 


20 


7 


30 


17 


23 


8 


28 


18 


27 


9 


26 


19 


33 


10 


27 







REPORT OF EXTENSION WORK OF TEACHERS IN THE 
ALBERT LEA HIGH SCHOOL 

Quoted from letter of Mr. W. E. Hedgecock, in charge 

"The Extension Work has been so interwoven from one year to 
another that it will be rather difficult to separate last year from the 
previous years and for that reason I will give you the work as con- 
ducted during the past two years, as Mr. Hibbs has been with me 
both years. 

"The Extension Work was divided into two main projects. The 
introduction of alfalfa into the county and better dairy farming. 



1 82 Organization a7td Method in A gricuUure in Secondary Schools 

The alfalfa acreage has been increased from twelve acres in 191 3 
to almost 300 acres in 191 5, and I expect to hear that at least 600 
acres were cut during the spring and summer of 1916. The Dairy 
Industry has been promoted through the Pioneer Cow Testing 
Association, which numbered 700 cows at the completion of the 
reorganization in June, 1915. This Association included thirty- 
five herds of cattle. 

"All the farmers with the exception of a very few have taken to 
weighing their milk night and morning, keeping a record of it on 
sheets furnished by the United States Department and distributed 
by the Agricultural Department of the High School. The men 
with one or two exceptions have erected silos within the past few 
years and a large number during the last two years. They have 
all improved in the feeding of their dairy cows and at the present 
time we have one Guernsey Breeding Association a year and one 
half old. 

"The remainder of our time was devoted to various lines of work 
such as advice in building, remodeling a dairy barn, making plans 
for machine sheds, arranging for dairy meetings and organizing and 
aiding the farmers' clubs of the County. The County at the time 
I left had thirteen farmers* clubs holding meetings once a month. 
We also aided in conducting a one week farmers' short course 
cooperating with the State Extension Division. We also held each 
year a three months' short course for farmer boys and girls, fifteen 
years of age and over. This last year we had twenty-five pupils 
enrolled whose age would average probably between eighteen and 
nineteen years. 

"We also cooperated with the Farm Management Department 
of the College of Agriculture in obtaining the consent of two men 
to keep records of farm work and both horse and man labor. We 
also cooperated in promoting the boys' and girls' clubs throughout 
the County." 

SUMMARY OF EXTENSION WORK AT THE CONCORD, MASS., 
HIGH SCHOOL 

From the Report of Mr. A. W. Doolittle, in charge 

Fumigated six greenhouses with Cyanide for White Fly. Con- 
ducted two experiments on spraying cucumbers in greenhouses for 
Red Spider. 



Exhibits of Lessons 1 83 

Conducted Apple Packing School January 4 to 9. Gave practical 
work in box, barrel, and fancy packages. Enrolment twelve adults. 

Supervised and arranged for Extension School by the Massachu- 
setts Agricultural College for five days in February. Total atten- 
dance of 600 men and 400 women. Concord Library issued catalogs 
of Agriculture and Domestic Science books, which were mailed and 
distributed to farmers and housewives. 

Most of the spare time for a month was given to promoting this 
school. Meetings were held, letters written, programs distributed 
and personal work done. Mr. Bevan visited sixty-five farms to 
urge attendance. He also took a census of fifty farms. 

An Agricultural census of the town was started and nearly com- 
pleted; a special survey on asparagus and strawberry growing 
made. A total of 1606 calls were made on the telephone. 

Assisted with Concord Grange Fair held in October. Helped in 
advertising and distribution of premium lists. Aided in judging. 

Judged fruit and vegetables at Framingham Fair, September 22, 
and at Home Garden Exhibit, Everett, September 16. 

Took active interest in local Home Garden Association. Headed 
committee on premium list and exhibits. Distributed seed and 
fertilizers. Assisted in managing the two exhibits, receiving, 
displays, judging, etc. Three hundred boys and girls took part. 

Acted as official milk tester for the Board of Health for which 
apparatus valued at $175.00 has been given. Results of tests are 
published in local papers. 108 samples have been reported on. 

Gave four lectures on Agricultural subjects in Concord, Bedford, 
Sudbury, and Dunstable. Total attendance 175. 

Aided in Clean-up Week campaign. 

Made drawings to scale of school plant in preparation for orna- 
mental planting. 

Gave public demonstration of milk testing for Board of Health. 

Wrote fifteen Agricultural articles for local papers. 



